Bad News for Trees: Utility Pole Demand is Surging Amid Climate Change

Electric cars, solar and wind power, and the need to upgrade the nation's electrical grids all bode ill for big trees.

Demand for utility poles is surging amid a tsunami of infrastructure spending, The Wall Street Journal reports.

The two companies that dominate the utility pole in the U.S. are booming.

Stock of Pittsburgh-based Koppers is up 41% year-to-date. Shares of Montreal-based Stella-Jones are up 68% this year. The S&P 500 Index, by contrast, is up about 13% year-to-date.

"The domestic utility pole business achieved third-quarter records in sales," Koppers said in reporting its latest financial results. And Stella-Jones reported a 46% increase in utility pole sales in the third quarter.

Koppers is constructing a new plant in Louisiana and adding capacity to plants in Alabama, North Carolina and Virginia to keep pace with record demand. It buys trees mostly from private landowners, and only finds five to seven of the tall, straight trees it needs per average acre of planted pine.

Many of the nation's 120 million wooden poles need to replaced, either because they're worn after decades of use or not up to current standards.

The $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill signed by President Joe Biden in 2021 provides billions in funding for upgrading the nation's electric grid for clean energy technogies as well as resilience against extreme weather. It also aims to make high-speed internet connections available to every American.

“Demand right now in North America for utility poles is outpacing capacity,” Stella-Jones CEO Éric Vachon told the Journal.