11 décembre, 2007 14:34
Dow closes one Fort plant
Doors set to close in 2009 following new environmental regulations which would put long-running facility over emissions limit, new plant starting up near Houston, Texas
Conal MacMillan
Sun Media
Tuesday December 11, 2007
Dow Chemical Canada announced Wednesday that it will be closing its third Fort Saskatchewan plant in 16 months.
The plant will be closed by 2009 as Dow is changing its Styrofoam operations and moving them to a new plant built near Houston, Texas, and to converted facilities across North America.
"It’s not about poor performance," said Mary-Lea Crawford, public affairs manager for the local Dow site.
An international treaty to protect the ozone layer will require Dow to no longer use a certain product in its Styrofoam production by 2010, which led to Wednesday’s closure announcement. The Fort plant would have far exceeded demand if it were to be converted to the new system, Crawford said.
The plant closure means 27 jobs will be cut at the local plant – 21 Dow employees and six contractors.
The company plans to shuffle some workers around the local plant, relocate others and offer severance packages to some to minimize the impact of the job cuts.
Crawford said Dow’s remaining two plants, hydrocarbons products and polyethylene, remain business as usual.
Last September, Dow announced the closure of its chlor-alkali and ethylene dichloride plants in the Fort because it didn’t want to pay the cost of upgrading the 27-year-old facilities. Those closures led to the loss of 170 jobs.
Dow’s former ethylene oxide/ethylene glycol (EO/EG) plant is still operating on site but is owned by MEGlobal.
Those three plants opened in 1976, along with the site’s power plants.
On Tuesday, the global company announced it was cutting 1,000 jobs worldwide in an effort to save money. The company expects to save about $180 million with its global cost-cutting move.
Dow’s Fort Saskatchewan site paid over $6.7 million in property taxes to the city in 2005, nearly half of the property taxes collected.
The closure of the Styrofoam plant will affect the property assessment, which means Dow will be paying less taxes to the city when the plant fully closes in 2009.
The company started its Fort Saskatchewan operation in 1961.
