Allegheny Wood Products closure to impact about 800 jobs [WV]

[Timber Rattler]

https://www.times-news.com/news/local_news/allegheny-wood-products-closure-to-impact-about-800-jobs/article_3a6bdbca-d4e4-11ee-adbd-43e37fb0816d.html

PETERSBURG, W.Va. — According to a receptionist at Allegheny Wood Products on Monday, the company was waiting for lawyers to release a public statement about its closing that will reportedly end roughly 800 jobs.

Various news outlets over the past few days reported the company, headquartered in Grant County with mills in several cities, including Petersburg and Moorefield, West Virginia, would cease operations after nearly 50 years in business.

State Economic Development Secretary Mitch Carmichael told WV MetroNews that the decision was “very sudden and unfortunate,” the news organization reported.

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Last May, Allegheny Wood Products withdrew an application for a state air permit to build a facility off U.S. Route 48 in the Hardy County community of Baker after residents bombarded state regulators with opposition, the Associated Press reported.

At the time, the county commission said the company’s efforts would have faced huge hurdles locally.

“The facility would treat logs before they are shipped overseas,” AP reported earlier this month. “Prior to the company backing down, the state Department of Environmental Protection’s Division of Air Quality said it tentatively planned to issue the permit that would let the facility emit up to nearly 10 tons of the pesticide methyl bromide into the atmosphere each year.”

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