With no third-party contractor to supply Potlatch Corporation with refuse-derived fuel, the company has withdrawn its permit application to burn alternative fuels at its Pulp and Paperboard mill in Lewiston.

For two years, Potlatch has been seeking permission from Idaho Department of Environmental Quality to burn construction demolition material and other waste in its Number Four boiler as a downturn in the housing industry has cut back the timber industry, which has, in turn, shrunken Potlatch’s supply of lumber mill and logging waste that it burns at its power boiler.

Company officials say its withdrawal of the permit application was also brought about by health concerns from the public over potential mercury emissions burning of the alternative fuels would have released into the environment - Potlatch had previously pledged to not burn any mercury-laden fuels.