Sappi Fine Paper North America

The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) made a preliminary determination and voted unanimously to proceed with a full investigation of coated paper imports from China and Indonesia, according to NewPage Corp.

NewPage, Appleton Coated, Sappi Fine Paper North America and the United Steelworkers (USW) filed unfair trade cases on September 23 with the U.S. Department of Commerce and the ITC alleging that certain coated paper from China and Indonesia had been dumped and subsidized, resulting in injury to the domestic industry and its employees.

Several U.S.-based coated paper manufacturers, led by NewPage Corp., are asking the federal government to level the playing field by imposing duties on China and Indonesia for subsidizing and dumping certain coated paper. Antidumping and countervailing duty petitions have been filed by Appleton Coated, Sappi Fine Paper North America, as well as the United Steelworkers of America.

Sappi Fine Paper North America will permanently cease operations at its coated fine paper mill in Muskegon, Mich. The closing will impact 190 salaried and hourly employees, who have been on furlough since the suspension of operations announced last March.

Sappi operated a single paper machine at the site with an annual production capacity of 170,000 metric tons. The company will record a charge of roughly $30 million in the fourth quarter.

AbitibiBowater has been taking action to help combat climate change for several years. Since 2000, the company has reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by 32 percent per ton. The progress to date can be attributed to a company-wide focus on improved efficiency and to switching from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources. In 2008, AbitibiBowater was 46 percent self-sufficient from renewable sources for its total energy needs. A new biomass boiler at the Fort Frances, Ontario, mill produces 46 MW of “green” electricity. In fact, 66 percent of the fuel used in the company’s boilers is supplied by carbon-neutral biomass such as sawdust and wood residues.

Three Sappi Fine Paper North America mills have each achieved triple chain-of-custody (CoC) certifications to the Sustainable Forestry Initiative, Forest Stewardship Council, and Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification programs: Somerset Mill in Skowhegan, Maine; Muskegon Mill in Muskegon, Mich.; and Cloquet Mill in Cloquet, Minn. In addition, the Cloquet and Somerset Mills are also certified to the Sustainable Forestry Initiatives’ Fiber Sourcing program. All certifications were achieved through independent third-party audits managed by Bureau Veritas Certification.

WHEN PHILLIPS Petroleum merged with Conoco Inc. in 2002, the resulting international energy company, Conoco-Phillips, had more that just its petrochemical assets to consider. Both Phillips and Conoco had operated first-class in-plants, and the Fortune 500 firm had to decide what to do with them. 

• Jerry Chamness has beenpromoted to director of Auxiliary Activities at The Citadel, in Charleston, S.C. He will continue to oversee the in-plant, but will also be in charge of six other auxiliaries. • Sappi Fine Paper North America was honored with the 2002 Maine Governor's Award for Environmental Excellence in recognition of Sappi's pollution prevention efforts at its Somerset mill. • Polly USA, an independent distributor of Polly sheetfed presses, has been acquired by the manufacturer of Polly presses, Grafitec, headquartered in the Czech Republic.