Alberta Progress Party Spokesman Finland-Bound in Support of Alberta Forest Industry

BUCK LAKE, AB – April 29, 2009 – Spokesman for the fledgling Alberta Progress Party, Edwin Erickson, leaves Wednesday on a ten-day investigative tour of Finland’s state-of-the-art biomass power generation and central heating plants. Finland is recognized as a world leader in the collection and use of forestry waste and bi-products in the generation of electricity. Erickson hopes that the tour of facilities, generating anywhere from 700 kilowatts to 200 megawatts of energy, could help support a solution to Alberta’s beleaguered forest industry, while providing part of a reasonable alternative to the building of nuclear reactors to supply the province’s future electrical needs.
Aside from studying the actual mechanics of the processes and the localized methods of collection of the forest materials, Erickson will be keeping a watchful eye on water usage at the various plants. Water use is becoming a contentious issue in a potentially much drier Alberta climate, and nuclear reactors are notorious for substantial use of water in the cooling process. “Aside from the obvious relevant advantages for much increased employment in the forest sector, this may present a significant opportunity for the province to move toward greener, sustainable power production, without having to resort to nuclear energy”, he says.
Erickson will accompany 27 other business and community leaders from across Canada on the tour.

Edwin Erickson, Spokesman
Alberta Progress Party Society
780-682-2368