U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno made a bold and lofty prediction in April while he addressed an emotional crowd in Chillicothe.
“I am confident that this mill will not only survive next year, but for the next 200 years,” Moreno said of the community’s historic paper mill while speaking at a political rally organized by his office.
The plant officially closed this month, taking 750 permanent jobs with it.
In an interview this week, I asked Moreno if he still thinks his prediction will come true.
“It’s still possible,” he said.
He also offered updates on where the project stands today.
Plant’s owner considers potential buyers
Earlier this year, community leaders described working with the plant’s owner to shutter the site and transfer it to a government owner, like JobsOhio, that could clean up the site and redevelop it.
But over the summer, the company has ramped up its efforts to find an outright buyer.
Now, Moreno said the mill’s parent company, H.I.G. Capital, is in the midst of reviewing potential buyers for the site. He didn’t detail who these potential buyers were but said there are “probably a dozen serious companies.”
Moreno also described his office receiving tips, which he thinks were spurred by the publicity the closure has gotten. Moreno indicated officials want to redevelop the plant so that it continues to produce some kind of paper product – a goal an industry expert told Signal in April is very difficult but which would help support the state’s logging industry. People in the community, meanwhile, said Pixelle Specialty Solutions has been reluctant to line up a buyer that could be a potential competitor.
“I want to get something resolved in the next 30 days at the latest, and be able to say to the community: ‘This is what’s going on,'” Moreno said.
Jeff Allen, president of the United Steelworkers chapter that represents the paper mill’s workers, said around 170 people are still working at the plant as it winds down its operations. That number will dwindle to a skeleton crew of around 50 next month.
Allen said he’s caught wind of some of the potential buyers. A few want to scrap the plant, he said. Two or three are interested in potentially running it, he said.
One would use the plant to produce latex gloves, using its on-site equipment to produce boxes to store them in. The proposal would keep the plant operating at its current capacity with the potential to expand in the future, he said.
“From some of the information I’ve heard …. I am hopeful,” Allen said. “A little better than 50% that somebody buys it to run it and keeps jobs here. Which is better than where it was in early July.”
Mike Throne, CEO of the Chillicothe Ross Chamber of Commerce, said people locally have been focused on supporting displaced workers, such as by setting up a jobs hub providing resume advice, career search support and job training.
They haven’t heard anything directly from plant ownership, he said.
“We are in a wait-and-see mode for the most part. H.I.G. controls what happens next,” Throne said.
In a statement, Pixelle said it’s had “ongoing conversations with state and local officials” about the paper mill’s future.
“While no decisions have been made, we will continue to evaluate potential opportunities in a way that reflects both business realities and responsibility to the community. Pixelle remains committed to supporting impacted employees and is actively working to provide job placement assistance, career transition services, and additional resources wherever possible,” the company said.
‘The nice path’ versus the other one
When Moreno organized the political rally in April, he had planned to lambaste the plant’s owner, as previewed by a bellicose letter his office sent the company after it announced the plant would close in May.
But the event’s tone changed after H.I.G. Capital announced it would delay the closure until the end of the year. The company then went back on its word, setting a new August closure date over the summer.
Moreno struck a conciliatory tone this week, calling HIG Capital’s interactions with him “upfront” and “collaborative.”
But he said if things take a turn for the worse, there could be other options. He described the possibility of the federal government refusing to award contracts to any of HIG Capital’s subsidiaries, for instance.
This oscillation between threats and praise – which also can be seen in Moreno’s approach with city officials in Cincinnati recently – is reminiscent of the approach President Donald Trump takes.
“The full onslaught of tools are still in our toolbox,” Moreno said. “Right now, if you ask me today, we’re working collaboratively to find a new user today that provides a great future for the community.”
“But if the nice path doesn’t work, the other path is always available.”
Inside Intel
Moreno, for now, is playing nice with the corporate owner of the Chillicothe mill as officials work to help the company line up a buyer.
But he took a much different tack last week with computer chip maker Intel, when he publicly called for Intel’s CEO to be fired and for the state to investigate the company for fraud over its repeatedly delaying its massive new plant outside Columbus.
The approach also contrasts sharply with state officials, who have generally said little about the project other than to predict that it will eventually get built.
Moreno, a critic of the original bipartisan federal subsidies for chip makers and the Ohio plant, described his approach as keeping pressure on the company. He said the state now owns the project, figuratively speaking, given all the state subsidies that have gone into it.
He said the Trump administration is considering a range of potential options, comparing it to figuring out what to do with the paper mill. He said he likes the idea of the U.S. government taking a direct ownership stake in the company.
“It’s like Chillicothe. There are a lot of proposals that are really interesting and unique, and that could get a great future. But you’ve got to keep the pressure on,” Moreno said.
