(The Center Square) – The closing of five area paper mills in southeast Georgia will have $2.9 billion economic impact annually, the House Rural Development Committee was told Wednesday.
International Paper announced in August that it was closing two mills in Riceboro and two in Savannah at the end of September. Georgia-Pacific closed its paper mill in Cedar Springs at the end of July.
The closings will have a direct economic impact of $1.7 billion, according to Devon Dartnell, Forest Utilization Chief for the Georgia Forestry Commission. The indirect impact is $845 million. The effect due to the loss of wages is $318 million.
“That’s a gut punch to me,” Dartnell said.
Bert Brantley, president and CEO of the Savannah Area Chamber of Commerce, said his organization is holding a two-day job fair this week. Liberty County held one on Wednesday, he said.
Agriculture Commissioner Tyler Harper said the closings of the International Paper plants caught state officials by surprise. House Speaker Jon Burns reiterated Harper’s statement, saying the industry is reeling from the impact of the closures.
“The other part of it, we’ve never recovered from Hurricane Helene, which was about a year ago,” Burns said. “As we came in down here, I’m still very saddened to see the impact in Coffee County and counties between here and southeastern Georgia, if you will, and Effingham County, to see the amount of timber that is still on the ground here that hasn’t been recovered and now won’t be recovered.”
The state will look at short-term and long-term solutions. In the short term, the state can support federal actions to remove and address international barriers limiting the state’s ability to compete globally in forest products, said Jake Matthews, vice president of the Georgia Forestry Association. Markets for chips in the European Union and Asian markets are a short-term consideration, he said.
Another option is bioenergy, which was also discussed by Jason Shaw, chairman of the Georgia Public Service Commission, Matthews said.
“Bioenergy, I think and we believe as an association, presents probably the greatest opportunity for significant demand growth for wood,” Matthews said. “The consumption of wood is down and we think this presents a great opportunity to drive more wood demand, especially for small round wood and residuals which is where the issue is.”
Bioenergy could help power data centers, Matthews said. A 100 megawatt data center would use 1.2 million tons annually.
