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Private firm and county officials pitch local biomass plan to turn forest residuals into jobs and carbon storage
Summary
Graphite, a biomass carbon‑removal company, told the Coconino County Board of Supervisors it plans a pilot operation to process forest residuals into inert, compressed blocks that could be used to backfill exhausted gravel pits. The firm said the approach would reduce on‑site burning, help reclaim mine pits and support roughly 20–25 local operations jobs once operational.
Graphite representative Saskia Versteeg told the board that Project Ponderosa would use locally collected forest residuals — slash piles and unmerchantable material from restoration projects — to produce dried, compressed blocks that would be stacked to backfill exhausted aggregate pits and then covered and revegetated.
"The 3 main benefits we want this project to bring to Coconino County: 1, reducing wildfire risk; 2, reclaim mining; and 3, creating new jobs," Saskia Versteeg said during an overview presentation to the Board of Supervisors. She said the company’s initial scope would use about 80,000 green tons of biomass per year, which Graphite estimated is equivalent to work on roughly 2,000–3,000 acres of restoration annually.
Why it matters: County staff and local restoration partners have repeatedly identified a "biomass bottleneck"…
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