Alaskan Pulp Mill to Close After Senate Deal
10/5/96
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Alaskan pulp mill seen closing after Senate deal
Copyright 1996 by Reuters
10/5/96
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuter) - Environmentalists claimed victory Friday after
a deal in the waning hours of the 104th Congress that was expected to lead
to closure of the controversial Ketchikan Pulp Co. mill in southeast
Alaska.
"I think things worked out pretty well," Tim Bristol, a campaigner for the
Southeast Alaska Conservation Council, said after the Senate passed a parks
and public lands bill that dropped provisions to bail out the money-losing
mill.
Louisiana-Pacific Corp., which owns the mill, had demanded a 15-year
extension to a timber-supply contract that expires in 2004, saying
otherwise it would shut down the plant, the largest private employer in the
city of Ketchikan. There are about 15,000 people in the Ketchikan area.
But the Clinton administration rejected that proposal and reiterated its
vow to cancel the U.S. Forest Service contract if Ketchikan Pulp closed the
pulp mill.
Nevertheless company officials claimed partial victory in a last-minute
deal negotiated by Alaska Republican Sen. Frank Murkowski and Clinton
administration officials that ensures a two-year supply of timber from the
Tongass National Forest for its two southeast Alaska sawmills.
"Sen. Murkowski is to be complimented," Ketchikan Pulp
spokesman Troy Reinhart said.
"He took a very, very unreasonable Clinton administration, stood in front
of the train and at least got something out of them," Reinhart said. "The
Clinton administration in the end were the ones who blinked and did
something."
He said the company would announce its decision early next week on the fate
of the mill, which expected to lose $40 million this year.
Alaska Gov. Tony Knowles, who had campaigned for the contract extension,
said closure of the aging pulp mill seemed inevitable.
"It may not be new news. It's certainly not good news to the families that
are working with and are dependent on the pulp mill," said Knowles, a
Democrat.
The Clinton administration's commitment to sales of Tongass timber will
provide a transition period to keep the two sawmills in business for at
least two years, he said.
Knowles has appointed a task force to formulate a business plan for a more
stable and diversified timber industry in the Tongass region.
"I haven't talked to any responsible parties who don't think there's a
viable timber industry (possible) in southeast Alaska," Knowles said.
Already, the task force has asked for $110 million in federal assistance
for communities to be affected by the Ketchikan Pulp mill closure.
Bristol said southeast Alaska environmentalists -- who have long battled
Ketchikan Pulp over its logging practices and pollution -- were sympathetic
about the approximately 500 people to be out of work if the pulp mill
closes, as expected.
"We're not shutting down the office here and we're not going to throw a big
party. I think that it's important to realize that a lot of people are
going to feel some pain," he said.