HALSEY — Pope & Talbot Inc. announced that its Halsey pulp mill has begun shutdown procedures and is expected to close by the weekend, according to Mark Rossolo, a spokesman for the company.

The shutdown affects 180 employees, the company said.

“At this time there are no plans to reopen the mill but nothing is final yet,” said Rossolo. “The employees are out of work but it’s more like a layoff at this point. There are severence provisions for employees.”

Secured creditors agreed during a joint U.S. and Canadian bankruptcy court hearing on Wednesday to advance Pope & Talbot more than $3 million until Friday in order to complete the wind-down process at the Halsey mill and two pulp mills in Canada.

Further hearings are scheduled for Friday and Saturday in British Columbia, according to Rossolo.

A projected sale of the three mills to Asian wood products giant PT Pindo Deli fell through late last week.

According to Rossolo, the Halsey mill began idling down today. He said the mill will face a soft shutdown, processing the product it has on hand but not taking in any more chips once the inventory is gone. He said the process should take about 48 hours.

Rossolo indicated that the company is still looking to sell the mills individually. He said that there has been some interest in the Halsey mill but no formal talks have begun.

Pope & Talbot counsel Sean Dunphy said Wednesday that the 160-year old Portland-based company is “transitioning toward receivership.”

The Halsey mill began operation in 1968.

GT Reader Comments

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Rabbit wrote on May 9, 2008 4:18 PM: " Sorry to hear that so many jobs are being lost. Maybe Allied Waste, the county and others could create a waste burning power plant like the one up in Brooks that Marion county runs. This would create some new jobs for the skilled workers already working there, produce power and reduce the amount of trash going into the landfill. "

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