SNOWFLAKE, Ariz. Arizona soon will have a use for burned trees from forest fires, recycled paper and other so-called biomass.

A new $53 (M) million electric plant in Snowflake aims to take all of that material and convert it into electricity.

The Snowflake white Mountain Power plant is expected to become a stable source of power in Arizona's eastern mountain communities.

It's also hoped that the power plant will clean Arizona's forests of smaller trees.

Wood for the plant will come from small trees left over from the Rodeo-Chediski fire, a 2002 blaze that charred 469-thousand acres in eastern Arizona.

More woody waste will come from forest thinning projects and leftover wood at sawmills.

The new plant will be Arizona's second biomass plant and one of 100 in the country.

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