by Web Editor | May 12, 2017 | News
Residents and officials eager for a new siding plant to open in northeast Minnesota are going to have to wait a bit longer. Louisiana-Pacific — which last year announced the purchase of a former mill in Cook, Minn., to expand its thriving engineered wood siding business — now says it will first convert a mill the company operates in British Columbia to make siding.
In a conference call with analysts, LP’s chief operating officer Brad Southern said it makes sense to develop the Canadian site first because of its proximity to the company’s West Coast customer base, and because the mill is already staffed and operating.
But that doesn’t mean a northern Minnesota plant is off the table. The Cook location and another site in Quebec “are likely options for future siding expansion,” said Southern. He added the company is “continuing our planning process for both locations with a focus on Cook.”
Still, the earliest the Cook mill would likely open is 2020, Southern told analysts. The company would first need to construct buildings and equip the entire mill. “The advantages of Cook, though, is it is a larger mill,” said Southern. “Cook gives us a lot of upside on volume. It’s a beautiful piece of land, a beautiful site to construct the mill and then expand it.”
State legislators and economic development officials on the Iron Range have had high hopes for the Louisiana-Pacific plant as something that could kickstart the region’s wood products industry.
From MPR News: https://www.mprnews.org/story/2017/05/08/hotly-anticipated-northern-minn-wood-siding-plant-delayed
by Web Editor | Jun 20, 2016 | News
The months-long mystery behind which home siding company would be receiving a $66 million subsidy package from the state has finally been made public. Louisiana-Pacific will construct a $440 million plant in Hoyt Lakes. This is the Nashville-based company’s second operation in the state (the other being in Two Harbors).
The Hoyt Lakes site will employ 250 people, amounting to roughly $264,000 in state funding per job created. The Duluth News Tribune notes that many of those employees will be loggers and felled tree transporters, a group of workers that has struggled to find employment following years of board plant closures and layoffs at paper mills in the area.
The new plant will also source its wood products from Minnesota. LP is currently estimating its take to be 800,000 cords per year (one cord equals 128 cubic feet of wood) or about 200 logging trucks each day.
Minnesota lawmakers began developing the public financing package for LP earlier in the year. Senator David Tomassoni, DFL-Chisholm, previously said at least Michigan and Canada were vying for the LP plant as well.
Funding for the project comes from a number of sources. The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development will be kicking in $20 million from its 21st Century Minerals fund, while the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board will be contributing $16 million from its economic development trust fund. The final $30 million will come from state taxpayers in a 10-part, $3 million per year deal.
From Twin Cities Business: https://tcbmag.com/News/Recent-News/2016/June/Louisiana-Pacific-Is-Mystery-Company-Receiving-$66
