U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Skamania, made her way to Onalaska’s only industrial-zoned properties earlier this week to visit business partners Krume Lumber and Regenerative Industrial.
Gluesenkamp Perez and three staff members visited the two Onalaska-based businesses Tuesday afternoon to tour the lumber yard, mill and pyrolysis facilities. The congresswoman said before the visit that she was always interested in visiting the state's sawmills and taking a look at natural resource industries.
“Having an economy that's based on natural resources … it adds strength to the regional economy,” Gluesenkamp Perez said. “I’ve made it a priority to visit a lot of our mills and talk to different specializations, whether it's, like, domestic, import, finish. So I’m excited to see another facet."
The tour resembled one in early September when members of local chapters of the Washington Farm Forestry Association visited the same property to take a look at Regenerative Industrial’s budding biochar business that hopes to take advantage of scrap and waste materials from the Krume Lumber mill.
Just like the previous tour, Regenerative Industrial cofounder Kevin Hoffberg led the way for the most part to explain the new business and its hopes for success while leaning on father and son Tom and Mitch Krume to fill in the gaps and discuss the lumber yard and mill operation.
Hoffberg first led the congresswoman and the rest of the group to the Krume lumber yard within view of the lumber mill before taking her to the Regenerative Industrial facility next door to look at the pyrolysis machines.
Pyrolysis is a system that heats wood in a vacuum without burning it, turning it into charcoal, which is also a high-grade carbon similar to coal. The carbon that is produced can be used in agriculture as a sort of fertilizer, and Hoffberg's company is also looking at selling it for use in carbon batteries.
The process also produces two byproducts — wood vinegar and wood tar — which have their own agricultural and industrial uses that Hoffberg and his business partners hope to capitalize on.
Hoffberg pitched Regenerative Industrial as a new company that could produce products superior to those already being used while also satisfying those who are environmentally-minded by sequestering carbon waste.
“In all these cases, we think this is a politically neutral idea because there are economic reasons to do it,” Hoffberg said. “There’s something for everybody to like. And our experience being part of this community is that it doesn't matter people's politics. They look over and see jobs in the community. We’re making good industrial products in Lewis County.”
The Krume lumber yard currently is focused on milling virtually endless amounts of burned and oversized logs salvaged by the U.S. Forest Service from protected lands near Eugene, Oregon, after a major wildfire in the area nearly five years ago.
This separates the smaller family operation from larger industrial mills that these days often don't accept oversized old growth logs and instead favor more uniform and average-sized farm forestry timber.
The problem is the waste products. Being oversized, partially burned or succumbing to deterioration due to sitting for long periods of time, the wood the Krumes are milling produces a lot of waste. That's where Regenerative Industrial comes into play.
Hoffberg hopes to capitalize on the growing waste issue. The wood scraps and waste that the mill produces is the same wood that Regenerative Industrial will turn into high-quality carbon and more.
“There is a future, maybe as short as 18 months from now, where there are battery power plates being made here in Lewis County,” Hoffberg said. “That's the rest of the story here … We might be making fourth industrial revolution materials here in Lewis County.”
Gluesenkamp Perez spent most of the tour asking frequent questions of Hoffberg and Mitch Krume, showing interest and being clearly supportive of promoting industry, while remaining relatively quizzical and reserved.
To finish off the tour, Hoffberg told Gluesenkamp Perez that the biochar industry needs support from the federal government to settle fears around risk and to promote new investments.
“The minute I come up with something I need from you, I’ll let you know,” Hoffberg said. “But in the meantime, I let you know about us.”
