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By STEVE WEISS Herald-Star Staff Writer One of the oldest industrial firms in Steubenville was the Federal Paperboard Co. on North Third Street.Federal Paperboard had been in business since 1813 under various ownerships and names.But it was modern-day problems which forced the permanent closing of thefacility on Aug. 23.Because of the city’s dependency on heavy industry for jobs and prosperity, pollution from mills and factories was considered a goodsign.means jobs, peopleSmoke believed.Thus,Federalinabilitywhen officials of Paperboard said to comply with environmental regulations was one reason for the plant’s demise, many people in town blamed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for the loss of more than loo jobs.Rumors spread that thecompany had come very close to meeting the EPA’s emissions control standards, but wasn’t successful in getting the federal agency to bend a little.But in fact pollution was one of three problems which doomed yr another local firm.in a statement issued by the company’s corporate headquarters in Montvale, N.J., lack of orders, operating problems and the environmental standards combined to shut the doors of the plant.“With no solution to these problems within justifiable capital investment for this property, the decision to close was made,” the statement in part read.Air pollution did indeed play a major role in The Death Of A Factory, but neither plant manager Robert McCabe nor company vice president of manufacturing Fred Ritchie have, in their comments on the situation, used the EPA as a scapegoat or an excuse to phase out an unprofitable facility.Ritchie said even with leeway from EPA in meeting emissions standards, Federal Paperboard probably would have been closed because of a lack of business.According to Ritchie and McCabe, the lack of business joined hands with Federal Paperboard’s inability to meet the emissions standards because, they said, the company could not afford the kind of pollution control equipment needed to satisfy the EPA.“In the last 10 years,” Ritchie said, “we had one. or two years when the operation was justified by the return on its investment.“We could not make the kind of investment necessary because of the financial picture of the plant.”About three years ago the company installed a dust-collection system to trap particulate emissions. Ritchie estimated the cost of the systemat $150,000 to $200,000.As a result of the newofiuinmpnt PpHppaI Panpr-txmrd’s emissions dropped froma high of 1,054 tons a year to 123 tonsia year. But the EPA said the company had to reduce its emissions to 97 tons a year.That figure was based on Federal Paperboard’s boiler capacity of 170 million BTUs (British Thermal Units). The company requested that the boiler capacity— and thus the pollution standards—be lowered because only 85 per cent capacity was being used due to the faiioff in orders.The EPA, according to McCabe, refused and accused Fedreral Paperboard of trying to write its own regulations.Art Smith, a lawyer in EPA’s Region Five Chicago office, said the agency could not make such a change because the regulations were adopted in Columbus, where it would have to be made.Smith said the EPA insists on complete compliance with standards for fear of total abandonment of those standards if exceptions are made here and there.“If we gave Federal Paperboard leeway because they said they couldn’t afford to add the equipment needed, we’d have all the companies telling us the same thing, whether they actually could or nothe said.“It wasn’t a question of Paperboard having the inability, they just decided they didn’t want to spend the money.”Yet Smith admits that Federal Paperboard had cooperated with the EPA, and had substantially reduced its emissions, but apparently not enough.McCabe and Ritchie strongly disagreed with Smith’s implication that the company DIDN’T want to spend more money. They claim Paperboard simply COULDN’T.Ritchie said the company could not spend $5,000 or $6,000 to run a second emissions test on its smokestack, a test he claimed would have shown the company to be in line with the standards set by the EPA.“Shortly before we shut down the smaller of our two boilers, we ran a stack test to determine the degree of compliance,” he said.“We failed marginally to comply. I think with the closing of the second boiler, a second test woudld have shown a considerable reduction in pollution.”Smith disagreed, contending compliance might have been possible had Federal Paperboard closed the larger boiler—with a 100-mUlion BTU capacity. Instead, they shut down one with a 70-million BTU peak.Smith suggested that the installation of another dust-collection unit would further cut down emissions and cost far less than the minimum $250,000 Ritchie estimated would have to be spent if Paperboard installed electrostatic precipitators or a baghouse.Smith said the company’s alternatives were to use low-Cl lift it* pao 1 frnm U/ocfArn oloior put in scrubbers.McCabe reacted to Smith’s suggestions with disdain, citing the tremendous cost of scrubbers and increased expense of shipping in Western coal compared with the relatively cheap high-sulfur Eastern Ohio coal.“Dust collectors trap the big pieces of soot, but the more you collect, the finer the pieces get and adding more collectors wouldn't do any good,” McCabe said.Smith admitted that the EPA does not consider economic problems when ordering industries to comply with air quality standards, but cited the state as justification for the federal policy.“They adopt the regulations, so we assume that they considerwhether meeting them will cause economic hardships,” he said.North Ohio Valley Air Authority (NOVA A) Director Pat J. DeLuca said Federal Paperboard didn’t have to take a second stack test in order to have its boiler capacity derated.Death Of A F actory“All they needed to do was puttnatit down in black-and-white they’d shut down another boiler to substantiate it,” he said.DeLuca claims Federal Paperboard’s emissions were in compliance with the EPA standards, except for about a two-week period, during which the company apparently was burning a lower grade of coal.DeLuca, who said NOVA A spent between 40 and 60 hours conferring with company andEPA officials in an attempt to keep open the plant, feels the EPA “went farther” with Federal Paperboard than it has with other firms.But neither NOVAA nor the EPA were of any help in the unsuccessful attempt to brighten the plant’s gloomy economic picture. NOVAA couldn’t help and the EPA—as agency policy—wouldn’t.Smith said the EPA knew about Federal Paperboard’s financial woes, but had no way of knowing if the company merely was “poor mouthing” itself, or really was in trouble.Had the firm continued to operate, and without meeting the standards, Smith said the EPA could have filed either a civil or criminal suit. He added, however, that in light of thecompany’s prior cooperation,ikelthe latter step was unlikely to be taken.Federal Paperboard did not have to worry about imports, which hastened the closing of Ohio Ferro Alloys and is casting an. ominous shadow over the steel industry.But the physical plant itself, Ritchie said, wasian obstacle to profits.“It required operation 24 hours a day, seven days a week to cover the costs,” he claimed.“It was an old plant, with a physical layout that made it very difficult to run with a minimum of people.”Ritchie praised members of Local 205 of the United Paperworkers International Union, which represented the plant’s employes.v/ss.-s.11IPIII!!!?iVimm#**•X:Usto-V-V.ifA*.ijjfpv.v.SV.w:i*•C^ t IPfew*mmv.y,w,mmi/M'.w/.y.yw.mr-we*,v/.7AmmkHOLIDAYS BEGIN. Rabbi Mac Portal of B’nai Israel Synagogue on N. Fourth Street gathers with children of synagogue members before the start of the Jewish new year, Rosh Hashanah, which begins Monday night and ends Wednesday night. The holiday commemorates what Jewishpeople believe is the 5,738th year since creation. It calls for a day of prayer and reflection in the synagogue. With Rabbi Portal are (left to right) his children, Michael, Uri, Aviva and Rulhie, and Eric Miller of 640 Ross Park. Rosh Hashanah is one of the two Jewish highholy days. The other is Yom Kippur, which begins Tuesday night, Sept. 21, and ends Wednesday night, Sept. 22, Known in English as the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur requires a day of fasting and prayer as Jews admit their sins and shortcomings to God, andask his forgiveness. B’nai Israel will hold a memorial service today at I p.m. at the synagogue. Temple Beth El will hold its memorial service Sunday, Sept. 18 at 2 p.m. in the temple section of Union Cemetery. (Herald-Star Staff Photo)“In the last few weeks we saw a real, genuine effort on the part of the union to make this thing work,” he said.But labor-management cooperation wasn’t enough to spur demand for the few products the plant made.“We had a relatively narrow paperboard machine,” Ritchie said, “which limited our market and the products we could make.The plant’s mainstay was paper cardboard for cereal boxes, but because it couldn’t coat the material, Federal Paperboard was losing business to firms which could both manufacture and coat the boxes.Federal Paperboard had become a marginal operation, the kind Smith admitted mightnot be able to meet EPA air quality standards.Thus it is unlikely the plant ever again will operate.The company is in the process of selling some or perhaps all ol the plant’s equipment. Joe Koran, vice president of Local 205, said a rumor that the union had made .an offer to buy the facility was false. * “Paperboard told us that it had never sold a plant to a competitor,” he said, “that they sell the machinery overseas.” Koran added that the possibility of an offer might be discussed at the local’s next meeting on Sept. 20.He also said, however, that the next meeting could well be the last meeting.,.and Paperboard’s last gasp.Byrd SaysLance DoneWASHINGTON (AP) — Budget Director Bert Lance’s resignation is “inevitable” because his effectiveness has been destroyed and it’s impossible for him to regain his credibility, Senate Majority Leader Robert C. Byrd said Saturday.Byrd, assessing the political impact of disclosures about Lance’s finances, also said that any “slippage” in Carter’s standing with the public or with Congress because of the Lance case can be repaired unless the situation is allowed to drag on.“Mr. Lance’s effectiveness has been destroyed,” he said during his regular Saturday news conference. “The cloud of suspicion is continuing to broaden and it will not be possible for him to regain his credibility.“It is inevitable that he will resign. 1 think he should have his say before the (Senate Governmental Affairs) committee on Thursday and then resign.”Carter, campaigning Saturday in New Jersey for Gov. Brendan Byrne, said herespects Byrd’s opinion. “But ! agree with him that Bert also should have a chance to explain his position,” Carter said. :The President also said$he was unaware of most of Lance’s * financial affairs before he nominated Lance to be budget director.“The only thing that I knew was that he had a problem in the 1974 campaign and it had been resolved,” Carter said. This apparently referred to checking account overdrafts incurred by Lance’s campaign committee during Lance’s unsuccessful run for governor of Georgia.Carter said he will hold a news conference Wednesday to talk about the Lance case.Lance will appear before the Senate committee to explain financial transactions described in reports by the Comptroller of the Currency and the Internal Revenue Service and in other investigations.The same committee confirmed his nomination last January as director of the Office of Management and Budget.Deposed Ruler Of Waterways glx JnjuredSparks New Wave Of InterestBY BILL O’CONNOR Herald-Star CorrespondentThe Ohio River Sternwheel today in Marietta, but the revived interest in life as it once was on the Ohio Rivers in-'dicates that the festival will go on to establish a long tradition of celebration in honor of a time and a type of boat which once ruled America’s inland waterways.and that one thing was an attachment to the old stern-wheelers.There are only a few of the original ones left and today, some people are building new ones. One of the few original stemwheelers belongs to Mr. and Mrs. Primo DiCarlo of Steubenville. Primo explained that Jan, his wife, was the one with the lively interest in theon the river where she once grunted behind tons of coal barges.The Dixie still is in the process of her transformation. When finished, she will have a new engine, a wider “stage” or front, gates and railings and filigree. Inside there will be a modern galley and living quarters, making The Dixie more than iust a pleasure boat.breed.” Mrs. DiCarlo explained. She knows about the subject. Her son became a river boat pilot, a commercial one, at the age of 22, one of the youngest men ever to attain a commercial riverboat pilot’s license.And Mrs. DiCarlo? Primo recently, when discussing the river, said, “1 just enjoy the, n .ft • 1In CollisionSix persons, including two small children, were hospitalized after a head-on collision shortly before 6 p.m. Saturday on State Route 152, eight-tenths of a mile south of Richmond.Admitted to St. John Medical Center were: Faticia Buckle, 19,learned the Buckle vehicle was north-bound and the Boyd car was soutbound. The Buckle car apparently was left of center and struck the Boyd car head-on.A hospital spokesman said those involved in the crash were still being examined and x-
Newspaper Details
Herald Star
Steubenville, Ohio, US
Sun, Sep 11, 1977
Page 23
Full Page
Clipped by
Public L.
OH, USA 28 Jun 2022
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