Last time, I wrote about how Congress’ idiotic “black liquor” tax credits were inadvertently helping keep Montana’s timber industry alive. Well, liquor or not, Smurfit-Stone dropped the other boot, announcing Dec. 14 it will close its Frenchtown pulp mill on New Year’s Eve – goshawful news for those of us who still give a rip about Montana’s forestry sector.
Every mill in Montana sells their byproducts to Stone, mainly chips, but also waste wood/hog fuel and crummy logs. Where will it all go now? Dunno. One sure thing: Crummy logs will be left where they are, as crummy trees in the woods.
But Stone’s pending closure is bad news for everyone, no matter how one feels about forestry. Some impacts: Over 400 mill employees, a $45 million payroll at $70,000 per position, now need jobs and/or a ticket out of Montana. And they won’t be alone. There are truckers and railroaders now hauling for Stone. The industrial-supply houses that kept Stone up and running will lose a huge customer. Even health care people who provided services under Stone’s employee coverage will be affected. According to NewWest.Net, even the nonprofit sector will get hit as it loses Stone’s corporate and employee philanthropy.
I suppose now the economic-development mucketies will resume blathering about “diversifying” Montana’s economy. Fine, but to build a diverse economy, first ya need a solid foundation to build it on.
In Flathead County’s previous life, Anaconda Aluminum, the railroad, a prosperous and busy ag sector, and numerous sawmills comprised an impressive and diverse industrial sector, as well as an impressive industrial supply chain with professional-grade inventories.
The benefits trickled down to everyone. For one tiny example, Carl Weissman and Sons had a wonderful store over on Meridian, jammed with every oddball widget you could ever want. I’d go with my tool-junkie dad, and let my imagination run wild about the things I could make and do with the bizarre stuff on the shelves, the ceiling, the racks in the pit. It was amazing. I took it for granted, but not now.
After school I moved to Steamboat Springs, Colo., a ranch town that reinvented itself as “Ski Town USA.” In the summers, I did commercial construction. In winter, I fixed skis and skied.
I learned right away that in resort towns like Steamboat, what you need, you can’t find. If by some miracle you do find, it costs … painfully.
Steamboat had only one welder. Thankfully, he was darn good and charged less than I knew he was worth. Scrounging a bearing or seal, or special/professional tool, required a special-order or a weekend round trip to Denver over three passes.
By my second mud-season road trip, I’d learned to bring along extra cash. During my excursions back to Montana and a real-world economy, I’d blow it specifically on goodies I couldn’t find or afford in Steamboat.
Today, the lines are cold at Anaconda, likely for good. The railroad’s presence here, while still significant, is a shadow of the past. I seem to recall that Flathead County has less than 100 full-time farmers left. Weissman’s is gone, of course. Don’t forget, Semitool was just sold to a competitor, at least partly for the company’s intellectual rights – which are portable.
Ugly, right? If our remaining wood-products mills go down, it’ll get beaucoup uglier.
Like it or not, for over 50 years, Stone’s stinky old mill has been a keystone in Montana’s economic foundation. Are Montanans ready to let it be pulled out and watch what happens next?
For Montana’s business and civic leaders, I’d like to suggest a nice, easy New Year’s resolution: Figure out a way to keep that keystone set right where it is.
In the meantime, Merry Christmas and a happy, prosperous New Year, everyone.