Environmental legislation has flaws that need to be fixed, Arizona Chemical officials say
PANAMA CITY — Environmental legislation to be considered next year could cost Bay County 200 jobs at Arizona Chemical, according to a company official.
“This legislation is a critical part of what happens in the future,” said Hal Beyer, strategic raw materials procurement manager for Arizona Chemical.
The American Clean Energy and Security Act calls for, in part, establishing a system to curb air pollution by limiting the amount of greenhouse gas emissions companies can emit. It also provides incentives to burn neutral fuels, such aswood byproducts. The problem, critics say, is companies such as Arizona Chemical use pulp byproducts to manufacture material that goes into everything from gum to tires.
Arizona Chemical is the world’s leading biorefiner of pine chemicals, according to the company’s Web site. The company employs 1,100 worldwide people with six U.S. facilities and five in Europe, said Arizona Chemical human resources manager Charlie Snelling. The company will finish closing one facility in Port St. Joe this year but officials do not expect more layoffs unless the bill passes.
The bill passed the U.S. House of Representatives in June and will be considered by the Senate some time in the next year, officials said. If the Senate keeps the language defining byproducts as biomass, Arizona Chemical officials said their materials costs could double.
“That could mean curtailment and cutbacks in our plants,” Beyer said.
The key byproducts Arizona Chemical officials want left out of the bill are black liquor soap (or crude tall oil) and crude sulfate turpentine. Both are used in the plant’s bio-refineries to create adhesive, rubber, lubrication, ink and fuel additives, Beyer said. The plant uses about 120,000 tons a year of crude tall oil and crude sulfate turpentine, Beyer said.
Beyer could not release information about how much money Arizona Chemical stands to lose should the act pass, but the company will not be the only biorefiner negatively affected, said Walter Jones, CEO of Pine Chemicals Association. Two other companies in the association would be hit, impacting about 1,600 jobs. Including Arizona Chemical, the industry could see a total of about $1.8 billion in lost sales revenue, Jones said.
“I think it will be devastating to our industry,” Jones said.
Arizona officials have met with U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee staff to talk about their concerns and with U.S. Rep. Allen Boyd, D-Monticello, who said in e-mail Friday he intends to work to protect local jobs. The federal committee is working with Arizona Chemical officials about their concerns, said David Kohn, committee spokesman.
Meanwhile, worried Arizona Chemical employees are writing to Boyd and U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla.
Arizona Chemical officials said they believed the bill would not cut greenhouse gases and questioned the benefits of passing legislation that seems to give an edge to foreign competitors and the petroleum industry. Beyer said a third-party study shows U.S. alternatives to Arizona Chemical’s products increase carbon dioxide emissions by 77 percent. That contradicts a World Resources Institute analysis, which suggests the bill would reduce global-warming emissions up to 33 percent below 2005 levels in 10 years.
Beyer and Jones said they are not against the entire act, only the classification of byproducts as burnable biomass.
“What we are asking is that these products, black soap and turpentine, be excluded from this legislation,” Jones said.
Panama City jobs are worth saving, Jones said, and the pulp byproducts are more valuable for manufacturing than burning.