Posted on 10/10/2005 11:58:21 PM PDT by Yosemitest
My relatives in Mississippi tell me that timber (logs) sell now at $35.00 a ton, down $10.00 a ton from prior to the hurricane damage. So ... with gas increasing in price, and timber dropping 22.22 percent in price before federal and state tax ... some land owners think that it's not worth the cost in hard labor, time and money, to try to salvage the timber that was blown down.
My relatives said that most mills have stopped taking timber from private individuals, unless they personaly know and trust the man delivering the logs to the mill. Too many of the logs that were blown down, were from people's yards or fence lines and carry the danger of having nails, or dog chains grown into them. This is a terrible danger to the man running the saw-mill. If timber is salvaged from a suspected area, then it usually goes for chip-board, or particle-board, or whole tree pulp-wood. The end result is that blown down trees have about a 50 percent chance of being not usable for lumber, since the bending of the tree in the strong wind usually tears them up on the inside. If you cut them into shorter 8 or 10 foot logs, some will break apart down the middle, from the bending of several different directions from the wind, before the hurricane stops. And then there's tornado damage to a lot of the timber, which normally snaps the trees off above the ground, or blows them down in many different dirrections in a small area. Tornado damage makes it very difficult to get to the base of the trees to cut them up, and makes it hard to load them. In some areas, log roads had to be built where the rain washed out the roads.
So when you see lumber prices rise, don't think the money is getting to the one who owned the timber. Some people are having to pay $400.00 a tree to get them removed. But the poor land owners in the country, ... most are cutting the damaged timber up themselves, and paying someone to come and take the trees to the mill. If the bark falls off the trees, from waiting too long to take them to market, the mill won't take them. If a log is over 30 inches in diameter, the mill won't take it, because their equipment can't handle it. A lot of trees will rot where they fell, and most will get burned this fall, either in the fields where they lay, or for fire wood if they aren't pine.
It's bad all the way around. Two days of work cutting up a load of logs (between 16 to 18 tons) and paying for someone to deliver them to the mill ($100.00 to $140.00) after taxes might bring about $400.00. Then you get to pay for your fuel, maintain your chain saw, buy mosquito repellant, and pay for the fuel the tractor uses to clean up the mess from the limbs that were left from the logs. But ... you can't beat the work-out for exercise.
I was beginning to wonder if we were going to run out of toothpicks. Guess not. Whew, that was close.
It's going to make good termite food.
This is sort of what my last post was about in a "some Government programs create work just to keep themselves alive" sort of way. To say you're going to clean the soil at a site to a level that's lower than background in areas nearby is crazy. I'd say dilute it with nearby soil if there are concerns to reach such low levels. Sometimes dilution is the solution to environmental pollution. I've spent 15 years as an environmental chemist and know superfund programs (and the money they waste) very well.
Such a shame. If they only would have let it be cut sooner.
I agree. Have you read the book Cleaning the soil is, in my opinion, almost impossible. Oil came out of the ground, and it can go back into the ground. The earth will clean itself, if given the time.
But about cleanups... I really like to know your opinion of the cleanup of these old military bases like Warminister, PA and if you think that the only thing that can be done with them is ...say use them to build nuclear power plants.
But the timber situation in Mississippi, is why I posted this article. I know many people who lost a lot of good timber to those hurricanes, and the new hybrid pines are glorified milkweeds. They grow twice as fast as the close grain pines, but weigh less than half the weight of the old pines. The new pines aren't worth anything except for pulp wood for paper, or chip or particle board. They really are a waste of good land.
And the big, timber around the little towns and cities, is either too large to cut for lumber, or in danger of having some metal inside of it. Some of the pecan orchards I saw that were torn apart, driving up highway 45 from Mobile to Meridian, would make excellent furniture, but most of it will be piled up and burned where it lays, or maybe used for fire wood this winter.
The major problem with old military bases are the chlorinated hydrocarbons (usually TCE) that were used as degreasers and cleaners. In most cases, the halogenated organics have premeditated into the groundwater and are very toxic to life. As far as the hydrocarbons are concerned, there's more hydrocarbons on the surface of a candy bar then there is at most sites. It's simply food for the bugs. Sorry, I know very little about wood.
I don't know how you would clean that up.
And wood, is also great bug food, and rotted wood contributes to great topsoil. If you burn it, it makes great potash, which also makes good topsoil, in moderation.
Well, that's a can of worms issue that I'll not mention here. And anyone who respects their secret clearances shouldn't say much either. But one has to remember things were done differently back them. And that's that.
To answer youre question more specifically about chlorinated hydrocarbons, the answer is usually DNAPLS (pronounced dean-apples; Dense Non-aqueous phase liquids). Its simple really, the chlorinated hydrocarbons are more dense (heavier) than water and so they will permeate into the cracks of the aquifer and are thus impossible to clean. Therefore, its sometimes best to just monitor them (via monitoring wells) and make sure the plume (contaminated water) stays within a certain contain area.
Given this, there seems to be a supply-demand match. After the hurricanes, the US has plenty of wood that can be used as fill for topsoil. There are many third world lands around the globe with topsoil problems. Isn't it better to create fishermen?
Or better yet, listen to the book on CDs. It's worth your time.
Or better yet, listen to the book on CDs. It's worth your time.
Fishermen are always good. Problem solvers are better.
My simple view of it is that during the 50s and 60s, Governments developed 100s of ways to kill millions of people very quickly and efficiently. When it gets to the point of countering the 100s of ways all your enemies have, it gets to the point of a different solution, A NEW WORLD ORDER. When Governments act in secret, the world becomes less ordered. In short (similar to your tag line), the choice for humanity is to either work towards WORLD ORDER and towards disorder (and possible mass human extermination).
And your tag line is also very true.
But our enemies today ... most people don't understand just how serious they are. May I recommend for all who will listen or are concerned...
R. Young, A reviewer, August 22, 2005,
Finally, Undiluted Truth
This bold book finally dares to give us the truth about Islam in crystal clear, easy to read, language. I found nothing in the book that was not easily verified and documented. The problem in the past has not been that the facts were unavailable but that they were unspeakable. Here they are spoken, and they need to be heard.
These gasoline regulations are the EPA on Steroids! Only one formula is needed and that is to keep the sulfa content under control - ever think of filling your tank in one state and driving into another state with entirely different gas formulations - commingling with other gas as you add gas to what is already in the tank perhaps unwittingly creating some nocuous pollutant and drive on to another state with other regulations where we add more formulations for that state - are we breaking the law somehow? No, we have just allowed a stupid law to manipulate the taxpayer into paying higher taxes
some of these additives have poisoned the land where highways cross it, yet the Congress is slow to stop the practice
follow the money. One formula for clean air would lower the costs for fuel and enable the refinery to produce far more fuel --- that is not to say we will not need to build more refineries, we desperately need more however, the practice of blending fuels must be ended.
These environmental idiots cause more wasted money than their worth.
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