05/05/2026
Credit: Megan McCormick - Bioleum
The pulp industry is opposed to RFS reform, fighting to hold the line on fiber costs from new biomass competition, measured in dollars per ton, while a far larger threat builds: the gradual unwinding of the supply network that makes affordable fiber procurement possible in the first place.
When Verso shut down its Wisconsin Rapids mill in June 2020, loggers found out with four hours notice. 900 jobs gone. Wood prices collapsed overnight. Contractors who had built their entire operations around that one anchor buyer had nowhere to go. The logging infrastructure didn't pause. It started dissolving.
Here are the facts: 60 to 70% of what gets cut and harvested in the Lake States is pulp. More North American mill closures are coming; Not because of fiber costs making them uncompetitive, but because digitalization is shifting demand. Decades of deferred maintenance and capital spend makes the assets old and inefficient. Labor costs are higher than in Latin America, and so on.
Every time a mill goes dark, the supply chain exits with it. Roads deteriorate. Crews take construction jobs. Equipment gets sold off. The harvesting infrastructure that took generations to build quietly disappears, and rebuilding it costs far more than any marginal fiber price increase from new biomass demand ever would.
There is also a land use dimension here that deserves attention. Every NIPF owner whose timberland loses its timber market value starts reconsidering whether to keep it forested at all. Productive timber markets are what keep private forestland in trees, actively managed, and ecologically functional. Remove the economic incentive and conversion pressure follows.
The integrated biorefinery model that Bioleum Corporation offers is a credible path forward: adding renewable fuel co-production alongside traditional fiber processing to diversify revenue streams, improve overall plant economics, and reduce exposure to single-market commodity cycles. The RFS definitional reform currently being deferred by EPA is part of the policy infrastructure that makes that transition viable.
The organizations best positioned to shape that policy are the ones with real industry credibility. The question is whether they engage before the next mill closure forces the conversation.
