The wood storage building nears completion. (Steve Mitman photos) STRONG — Since mid-August the old Forster Mfg. plant which has stood empty and idle for too long has been a beehive of activity. The new pellet mill is expected to be operational Jan. 1, 2009, Jeff Allen, the Strong plant manager said recently.

In January Geneva Wood Fuels of Chicago, Ill. purchased the mill, doing a significant amount of work on the property.

"When the plant comes online, 30 to 40 trucks each day will visit the plant delivering tree length logs, chips and residuals from other mills," Allen said.

The wood pellets, an alternative to heating oil, will be made from bark, biomass, tree tops, limbs and the like.

Everything that is not used in manufacturing the pellets themselves will be used as fuel for the plant boilers to produce electricity or steam.

Right now, the power plant is operational. The "truck dumper," a large platform that tips entire trailers for unloading, is being installed next week, a company spokesman said.

The brand new conveyor at the pellet mill. The chip storage building is nearing completion with the concrete poured and the steel erected.

Two of the contractors re-building the mill are from Franklin County, Western Maine Piping and Western Maine Concrete.

According to mill owner Jonathan Kahn, Geneva Wood Fuels owns and operates another energy plant in Illinois. That plant burns tires, garbage and industrial waste to generate electricity.

The company has not yet announced how the pellets will be sold, although Kahn did say that the decision to sell pellets at the mill, through local retailers or some other method will be announced sometime soon.