By Philip Walzer
The Virginian-Pilot
© February 26, 2010
FRANKLIN
International Paper expects to close its paper mill outside Franklin on April 15, a spokesman said this morning.
The majority of workers will continue working at the mill until between April 15 and June 30, said Desmond Stills, a spokesman for the mill. Others will stay beyond June for such duties as securing equipment.
The company announced in October that the mill would close by the end of spring. At the time, 1,100 people worked there and four machines were operating. Now, about 800 are employed at the mill and two machines are still in use, Stills said.
“The two remaining machines will be permanently shut down on April 15, barring something unforeseen,” he said.
Stills said the April 15 date was chosen “in order to make the process expedient. We didn’t want to drag it out forever.”
JEFF E. SCHAPIRO TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Published: February 24, 2010
The guy who ran for governor is turning to the guy who won for help on a jobs project for economically ravaged Southside Virginia.
Terry McAuliffe, defeated for the 2009 Democratic nomination, met privately yesterday with Gov. Bob McDonnell to discuss McAuliffe’s proposal to purchase a soon-to-close paper mill in Isle of Wight County, refitting it as a wood-fired power plant.
“The new governor and the would-be governor want to create jobs,” McAuliffe said after his unannounced 45-minute session with McDonnell, a Republican. “This is not a partisan issue.”
By Charlie Passut | Tidewater News
Published Tuesday, February 23, 2010
FRANKLIN—Construction work to finish the build-out of the Franklin Business Incubator, postponed several times in an effort to land several International Paper Co. customer service jobs, is expected to begin by the beginning of March.
IP has yet to announce where it will house 35 customer service employees who will not be affected by the closure of the Franklin mill this year.
Last year the Incubator was awarded two grants to complete the building: a $150,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture in August, and a $536,466 grant from Community Development Block Grant–Recovery program.
CDBG–R is funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and is administered by the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development.
Supervisor makes appeal to top state officials
By Charlie Passut | Tidewater News
Published Friday, February 12, 2010
FRANKLIN—Isle of Wight County Supervisor Phillip Bradshaw said top state officials, including Gov. Bob McDonnell, support having a portion of his county added to an enterprise zone in neighboring Franklin and Southampton County.
Bradshaw, who represents the Carrsville District, said that since last week he has met with McDonnell, Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling and Secretary of Commerce and Trade Jim Cheng to discuss the enterprise zone. He and other county officials want a 6.37-square-mile area of southern Isle of Wight, which includes the International Paper Co. mill, added to the Franklin-Southampton zone.
FRANKLIN
In the middle of a crowded meeting room, Teresa McCaskey, a 23-year employee of International Paper, was having a private chat with the governor.
She told him she would soon lose her job as a paper machine inspector, that her family income would be significantly lower, that the family has a mortgage of about $1,200 a month and two car payments.
She said she was concerned they couldn’t pay the mortgage or afford medicine if they were sick. Even on unemployment, she said, she would make too much to qualify for food stamps.
By Diana McFarland
Smithfield Times News editor
Former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe has put in a bid to convert the International Paper plant into a wood-fired power plant.
The goal is to create a “green footprint” to better entice business and manufacturing — and jobs — to Virginia, McAuliffe said Tuesday in a phone interview.
“People want to buy as much green energy as they can. “You can’t have too much of it,” he said.
Citing a non-disclosure agreement, McAuliffe said he was unable to reveal details of the plan, but did say that his team has been working with IP officials on the project.
It would be easy to convert the boilers to burn biomass, he said, adding that other states have converted former paper mills into wood-burning power plants.
“This would really put Virginia on the map.”
McAuliffe is also aware that Isle of Wight has plans to build an intermodal park near the IP site.
“We could team up together and that would be spectacular,” he said.
Isle of Wight Economic Development Director Lisa Perry said her team has spoken with Peter O’Keefe, but was unaware that McAuliffe was also involved.
O’Keefe is a political ally of McAuliffe’s, according to the Richmond Times Dispatch, which printed a story on McAuliffe’s involvement Tuesday.
“He’s one of many looking at the IP facility. IP is entertaining proposals from many other entities,” Perry said.
Bid proposals are due Feb. 26.
International Paper announced last October that it would close its mill, putting 1,100 workers out of a job and costing Isle of Wight, Southampton counties and the city of Franklin millions in tax revenue.
Read the entire story in the Feb. 10 issue of the Smithfield Times. Papers can be purchased at newstands, or subscribe by calling 357-3288 or online at www.smithfieldtimes.com
WALTERS—American K-9 Interdiction LLC, the dog-training company that is relocating its operations from Carrollton to Walters, says it will only be using local contractors to build a new facility on Burdette Road.
The company’s owners, Nigel Rhodes and Paul Roushia, said they wanted to only use local contractors because of the impending closure of the International Paper Co. mill in Franklin and the negative economic impact that closure was going to have on the community.
By Josh Brown
The Virginian-Pilot
© February 10, 2010
Former gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe has submitted a bid to purchase International Paper Co.’s mill outside of Franklin and turn it into a wood and biomass energy plant.
The paper mill is scheduled to close this year, eliminating 1,100 jobs. McAuliffe, who ran for governor of Virginia but lost the Democratic nomination to state Sen. Creigh Deeds, estimated the venture could save hundreds of those jobs.
Terry McAuliffe, an unsuccesssful candidate for governor in 2009, is in the running again — this time, to buy a soon-to-close Southside paper factory he wants to convert to a wood-fired power plant.
McAuliffe and other investors are pitching to International Paper Co. to purchase the firm’s giant Franklin mill in Isle of Wight County, which is to be closed this year, throwing 1,100 people of work.
RICHMOND—Isle of Wight County won’t be instituting a cigarette tax, at least not this year. Legislation that would’ve allowed the county and others across the state to levy a tax on cigarettes was killed in the General Assembly.
Delegate William Barlow, D-Smithfield, argued that cigarette taxes, which he classified as “user fees,” could bring in significant revenue — especially considering state budget cuts.
“The localities are going to suffer tremendous cutbacks in state money coming back to the localities, and this would be a way of them getting some revenue to provide services for our citizens,” he said.
