Portman voices optimism in Glatfelter tour

CHILLICOTHE – Though U.S. Sen. Rob Portman said he is optimistic that recent preliminary rulings by the U.S. Department of Commerce will help level the international playing field for paper companies such as Glatfelter, there’s still work to be done.

Portman, as part of his Making a Difference Tour across Ohio, stopped in Chillicothe on Tuesday morning for a tour of the Glatfelter facilities, where he said he had a chance to see the entire paper making process.

Portman, who has been working with firms such as Glatfelter to push for fair trade issues, was shown around the mill by Brian Janki, business unit president for the Specialty Papers business unit.

“It’s an impressive workforce, and it’s a plant that’s able to compete as long as we don’t have unfair trade,” Portman said.

According to Glatfelter officials, paper producers joined in January with the United Steel Workers International union to file what is known as countervailing duty petitions on uncoated paper imports coming from China and Indonesia.

They also filed anti-dumping petitions on imports from China, Indonesia, Australia, Brazil and Portugal claiming those imports were creating an unfair competitive environment for U.S. paper makers because of government subsidies and other factors. That concern ultimately could have an impact on jobs if conditions remain unchanged.

The Department of Commerce, however, has issued a pair of preliminary rulings that favor domestic paper manufacturers with a final determination expected in January.

The U.S. International Trade Commission, during preliminary phase investigations, also has found evidence that imports from China and other countries are benefiting unfairly from several government subsidies and from “dumping” products on the market for well below fair market value, Portman said.

A piece of legislation co-sponsored by Portman and fellow Ohio U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown that was passed in recent months ago also should make it easier for U.S. companies to win these types of cases, he added.

“That’s important, because in the past, sometimes it takes so long and is so complicated that you lose so many workers and you lose so much market share that you can’t get back on your feet,” Portman said. “We believe that, that law has already helped to win a tire case that affects Ohio, and now we think it’s going to help win this case.”

Portman, along with Brown and the rest of Ohio’s congressional delegation, also have been active in trying to win support for funding at existing levels for the decontamination and decommissioning work at the former Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Piketon.

A town hall meeting has been called for 6 p.m. Sept. 9 at the Pike County Government Center in Waverly to discuss community response to planned funding cuts that could cost between 350 and 500 jobs before the end of this year.

Portman expressed his continued frustration with the annual funding dance between the project and the Department of Energy and said it has been made very clear to the administration by everyone from the congressional delegation all the way down to the governments and residents of the four affected counties themselves that work must be funded fully.

If not, it will cost jobs and slow the project to a pace that he said will end up costing taxpayers significantly more money over time.

“We’ve got to figure out a way to change the entire approach here to say let’s clean this thing up, let’s convert it to other uses, and to do that, there’s going to be some upfront costs, but it’s worth it,” Portman said. “If you drag this thing on, as the administration has now proposed, not only is it less safe for the community, and not only can we not convert it (to future use), but it will cost the taxpayers billions of dollars more.

“The faster you clean it up, the less expensive it’s going to be over time.”