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[From EcoNet ecotopia.news Conference]

Kinder, Gentler Regime At L-P? 
 
Louisiana-Pacific continued layoffs, shut down much of its
Mexican operation and started readying mill sites for sale last
month as its new Western Division manager proclaimed a "kinder,
gentler L- P."
 
The major management shake-up has led to the closure of half of
L- P's operation at the Mexican port of El Sauzal. The company
ended its redwood fence board manufacturing there, leaving only
its redwood drying and planing operations with 100 workers on
the 70-acre that in 1989 L-P envisioned as a 1,000-employee
collection of up to a dozen wood-finishing factories.
 
Bob Simpson, the newest -- and at 33 the the youngest -- L-P
division manager, said he foresees "nice profits, growing timber
and happy environmental comments." But he took the helm
following former manager Joe Wheeler's forced retirement after
he revealed that the company had overcut its own timber in the
region, over-optimistically anticipating national forest logs
to keep its mills operating.
 
The division's workforce has been cut from 2,700 in 1989 to
fewer than 1,200. And now the company is preparing nearly a
dozen mill sites in northern California for sale, calling the
effort a "restoration project" since the old mill structures
will be torn down and the real estate cleared of debris.
 
Former L-P operations at Cloverdale, Covelo, Potter Valley,
Dinsmore, Chico, Oroville, Elk Creek, Feather Falls, Greenville
and Crescent will go on the block.  It also will probably have
to address toxic contamination problems at some of the sites.
 
Groundwater contamination at the L-P stud mill south of Fort
Bragg was the target of an Earth First! demonstration in late
July. The protestors called for reparations to the local
community, where pollution is appearing in wells on adjacent
property.
 
The main groundwater problem is attributed to a now-capped
well used for disposal of wood treatment chemical including
pentachlorophenol and tetrachloroethylene. The company is
providing bottled water to its neighbors, and is required to
install filters on their contaminated wells while it proceeds
to excavate contaminated soil.
 
L-P proposes to bring in a mobile incinerator to burn the
contaminated soil on site.
 
(From ECONEWS, Newsletter of the Northcoast Environmental
Center, September 1992. Write 879 9th St., Arcata, CA 95521,
or e-mail nec@igc.apc.org, for a free copy.)