Two companies that have publicly expressed interest in using portions of the
International Paper mill campus in Isle of Wight County say they are on track
with proposed manufacturing facilities that would create more than 200 jobs.
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From the category archives:
International Paper Update
International Paper Co. will spend $83 million to repurpose its shuttered paper mill near Franklin to produce fluff pulp, Gov. Bob McDonnell announced Tuesday. The project will create 213 jobs.
“This project is tremendous news for Isle of Wight County and the entire region,” McDonnell said in a statement. “It will help offset the economic ripple effect caused by the company’s 2009 announcement and it is further evidence that Virginia is wide open for business.”
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A firm backed by former gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe announced Tuesday that it is in talks with International Paper Co. to potentially use its shuttered Franklin mill to make wood pellets.
Franklin Pellets LLC has proposed using the site to produce 500,000 tons of wood pellets, which are burned for energy or heat. The firm said it has reached an agreement with International Paper, the Memphis, Tenn.-based paper company, to explore the proposal.
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Former Virginia gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe is moving forward on his proposal to open a renewable energy facility at the shuttered International Paper Co. in southern Isle of Wight County.
“The investment would be significant,” he said, referring all other questions to International Paper. “We’re very excited. It’s a fantastic location in one of the most vibrant wood baskets in the country with easy access to the port.”
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A wood pellet manufacturer is eyeing the possibility of bringing new life to the site of International Paper Co.’s former Franklin mill.
Franklin Pellets, a newly formed partnership between Multifuels L.P. and CMI L.P., said in a press release Tuesday that it proposes to build its plant in Franklin. Peter O’Keefe, a principal at CMI, would not say whether the company hopes to occupy the former mill site. O’Keefe said the plant would help create new jobs in forestry, manufacturing and transportation and could begin operating in 18 to 24 months.
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International Paper officials have spent the past few months reviewing about 15 proposals from companies interested in the site. While there are no plans for paper or paperboard to be produced at the site, repurposing options under consideration involve the production of wood pellets, lumber, fluff pulp, ethanol, biomass power generation and bio-diesel, Wadsworth said.
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A spokeswoman for International Paper Co. said Thursday the closed Franklin paper mill is being considered for the production of wood pellets, lumber, fluff pulp, ethanol, biomass power generation and bio-diesel.
Donna Wadsworth, manager of communications for IP in Ticonderoga, N.Y., said various other options also remain under consideration.
“We anticipate that the studies and decisions regarding the future of the Franklin site assets could be completed in early 2011,” she wrote in an e-mail.
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International Paper might maintain a presence near Franklin, but the mill won’t make paper anymore.
In the company’s most detailed comments since its paper mill stopped production in April, a spokeswoman said Thursday that it is considering proposals from businesses such as producing wood pellets or ethanol.
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In fiscal year 2012, Isle of Wight County is expected to lose approximately $5.7 million annually in tax revenue from the mill’s closure, while Franklin will lose almost $1.2 million annually it received from a revenue-based non-annexation agreement brokered with the county years ago. The state is projected to take a $20.6 million hit in tax revenue.
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On April 30, George F. Hasty made the long walk off the grounds of International Paper’s Isle of Wight paper mill for the last time. Just days before, he was offered a job as a machinist at Northrop Grumman Corp.’s Newport News shipyard.
Hasty is one of 133 former IP workers the shipyard hired in the wake of the mill closing. Ninety-four of those workers have started their jobs. The remaining 39 will begin in the coming months.
The Newport News shipyard, which Decker said receives between 8,000 and 10,000 electronic job applications a month, was so impressed by the quality of the IP workers that it set up a separate database to capture their applications to be sure each one was reviewed.
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