Moving millions of board feet

Lake States Lumber/Innovative Pine Technologies open Port operations that include arsenic-free wood treament technology

A small controversy was brewing on the waterfront in early September 2002. A group of well-meaning citizens had gathered to sand and clean wooden playground structures at Playfront Park, a popular Duluth Bayfront attraction for children. After finishing the project volunteers were treated to pizza at the site.

Local environmentalists were quick to point out that the pressure-treated wood used to construct the playground in 1990 most likely had arsenic in it, and should have been handled more carefully by using gloves, masks and proper equipment. They also insisted that food shouldn't have been served anywhere near the cleanup area.

After some testing it was discovered that there was, indeed, a small amount of arsenic in the lumber, as was the case with most green-treated lumber because of a process widely used at that time to preserve wood from decay.

Now, just across the Harbor from Bayfront Park, a waterfront facility has opened that could solve such pollution worries for good while bringing much needed jobs to the community.

Lake States Lumber/Innovative Pine Technology's $3 million remanufacturing and distribution facility that opened in June is Minnesota's first factory to pressure treat lumber without using any arsenic.

The two companies collaborated on a long-term lese agreement with the Port Authority in 2002 for a nine-plus acre waterfront parcel at the Clure Public Marine Terminal for construction of Innovative Pine Technology's 22,000-square-foot treatment facility. It includes 5,000 square feet of office space and showrooms, and there is plenty of land remaining for Lakes States Lumber to use as open storage for its foreign and domestic forest products. The operation is initially employing 16 workers, and that number is expected to grow to 25 as production increases.

"Depending on market conditions, we can install additional equipment within the existing plant that could double our output and create up to 20 more jobs," said John Stauber, company president.

Lake States Lumber expects to move 270 million board feet of lumber through the facility annually to independent lumberyards in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Iowa, the Dakotas and Illinois. About 20 percent of the lumber will be pressure treated by Innovative Pine Technology using a new arsenic-free solution recently approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and called alkaline copper quaternary (ACQ). The process includes a closed-loop treatment system that removes any possibility of chemical discharge at the site.

The operation's location allows for the delivery of raw lumber products via train, truck or vessel. In addition to buying wood from domestic and Canadian producers, the company plans to book about 10 European lumber shipments per year.

The Port of Duluth-Superior's first ocean vessel arrival this year was the Norwegian-flagged Menominee carrying 1,800 metric tons of German lumber for discharge at the facility.

"Although the Port of Duluth-Superior is primarily an export outlet, imports are extremely important in helping provide two-way cargoes for our ocean carriers, especially those in the outbound grain trade," said Port Director Adolph Ojard.

"The arrival of lumber provides opportunities for carriers to come in with cargo and be readily available to carry outbound cargo at competitive rates. If lumber becomes a staple of future port commerce, it will mean increased revenue, traffic and jobs for the Port," he said.

The Port Authority invested about $250,000 for infrastructure improvements for the facility, while the company paid for the cost of the building construction and storage yard improvements.

The addition of Lakes States Lumber/Innovative Pine Technology brought the total number of businesses operating at the Clure Public Marine Terminal to 16. Altogether, 51 companies employing about 1,075 people now operate on Port Authority properties at the Terminal and at Airpark, an industrial complex adjacent to the Duluth International Airport.

The Port Authority also owns the 28-acre Garfield C & D development site, former home of a large grain elevator complex that has been prepared for conversion into a cargo-handling facility, and the Erie Pier dredge disposal facility.