Corner Brook's pulp and paper mill is looking for new types of fuel to feed its boiler as the price of oil climbs.

The mill's general manager said Friday that one alternative source could be peat pellets.

Stephane Rousseau says the western Newfoundland mill needs to find something cheaper than oil. In January, Kruger Inc. withdrew a proposal to burn used tires as an energy source at the mill.

In a statement at the time, the Newfoundland and Labrador government said Kruger had withdrawn an undertaking that had been filed under provincial environmental review legislation.

The company later issued a statement that said the project was withdrawn "due to the lack of consensus over the project." It went on to say that after collecting feedback from the public and local groups, the company "came to the conclusion that the project did not garner sufficient support."

Kruger had wanted to launch an eight-day pilot project that would have involved burning 150 tonnes of used tires at the mill.

Environmental groups and some residents of Corner Brook have protested against the idea.

A government decision on the pilot project had been expected in December, but was delayed twice.

Opposition parties accused the government of stalling on the contentious idea.

The tire-derived-fuel plan was pitched as a way to address two issues: providing power for the mill as it survives a shakeout in the global newsprint industry, and cutting into a stockpile of at least 1.5 million used tires that have accumulated since Newfoundland and Labrador banned dumping them in landfills in 2002.