Georgia-Pacific

Georgia-Pacific LLC is an American pulp and paper company and subsidiary of Koch Industries. Based in Atlanta, Georgia the company is one of the world's leading manufacturers of tissue, pulp, paper, packaging, building products, and related chemicals with "approximately 300 manufacturing facilities across North America, South America, and Europe." In 2005 the company was acquired by Koch Industries.

Support for the American Legislative Exchange Council
Georgia-Pacific was a ALEC 2011 Annual Meeting Louisiana Host Committee member.

Georgia-Pacific Facilities
Georgia-Pacific owns and operates the following mills :
 * Naheola mill in Pennington, AL, which began operations in 1958. Currently, the principle products from the Naheola mill include both plate stock and cup stock for use in the food service market.
 * The Crossett mill, located in Crossett, AR, produces bleached paperboard grades, including folding carton, plate stock, bleached linerboard, and various cup stock grades.
 * The recently acquired Brewton mill, located in Brewton, AL, produces folding carton, blister packaging, and skin packaging grades.

Existing Coal Plants
Fort James provides power to Georgia-Pacific's Muskogee paper mill.

History
Georgia-Pacific was founded by Owen Robertson Cheatham in 1927 in Augusta, Georgia as the Georgia Hardwood Lumber Co. Over the years it expanded, adding sawmills and plywood lumber mills. The company acquired its first west coast facility in 1947 and changed its name to Georgia-Pacific Plywood & Lumber Co. in 1948. In 1956 the company changed its name to Georgia-Pacific Corp. In 1957 the company entered the pulp and paper business by building a kraft pulp and linerboard mill at Toledo, Oregon. The company continued to make acquisitions, including US Plywood Corp. in 1987, Great Northern Nekoosa Corp. in 1990 and the Fort James Corp. in 2000. In August 2001, Georgia-Pacific completed the sale of four uncoated paper mills and their associated businesses and assets to Canadian papermaker Domtar for US$1.65 billion.

Hurt by asbestos-related legal settlements, falling lumber prices, and rising energy costs, Georgia-Pacific was acquired by Koch Industries in 2005 for $21 billion. Georgia-Pacific was removed from the NYSE (it had traded under the symbol GP) and shareholders surrendered their shares for about $48/share.

The Georgia-Pacific Tower in Atlanta continues to house the company's headquarters.

Coal Products
At the Coal Prep 2008 Exhibition and Conference, Georgia-Pacific Chemicals LLC unveiled its new patent-pending Talon (TM) Mining Reagents product line in conjunction with its distributor, Freedom Industries. According to Georgia-Pacific, the use of Talon reagents improve coal yields by selectively binding to clay in the flotation separation process, reducing ash content and resulting in a low-moisture, high-BTU/ton coal.

Environmental Issues
Based on year 2000 data, researchers at the Political Economy Research Institute of the University of Massachusetts named Georgia-Pacific as the fifteenth-largest corporate producer of air pollution in the United States. In that year, Georgia-Pacific facilities released more than 22,000,000 pounds of toxic chemicals into the air. Georgia-Pacific has also been linked to some of the United States' worst toxic waste sites.

Like all large manufacturers, each year the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency requires Georgia-Pacific to report publicly quantities of certain chemicals that facilities release into the air, water, and onto land. For the most recent reporting period – 2006 (as of Spring 2008) – the company showed a 12 percent decrease in these releases from 2005. From 2000 to 2006, Georgia-Pacific has reduced its total releases and transfers of these specified compounds by 26 percent.

In 1995, the company drew criticism for allegedly pressuring the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee to approve legislation that would allow Georgia-Pacific to "avoid installing pollution gear at many of its plants." . In 1996, Georgia-Pacific agreed to pay for at least US$26,000,000 in environmental measures and $6,000,000 in fines to settle allegations that particle emissions from its facilities endangered people and crops in the southeastern U.S.

Georgia-Pacific is also involved in several remediation sites, many of which were landfills used by other manufacturers, municipalities and other businesses, and individuals. Two of the primary remediation sites - the Fox River in Wisconsin and Kalamazoo River in Michigan - involve the cleanup of PCBs. Many years ago, GP predecessor companies and others recycled wastepaper, including carbonless paper, into other paper products. At the time, carbonless paper was made with a chemical containing PCBs. The PCBs were washed from the paper and discharged in the mills' wastewater to the rivers.

In 2007, the United States Environmental Protection Agency announced legal agreements among the EPA, Michigan, Georgia-Pacific, and Millennium Holdings requiring the companies to clean up an estimated $21,000,000 worth of environmental damage to the Plainwell Impoundment Area. Another settlement required an additional $15,000,000 of environmental work on the Kalamazoo River Superfund site.

Directors
Accessed November 2007:


 * David L. Robertson, chairman of the board, Georgia-Pacific, and president and chief operating officer, Koch Industries
 * James Hannan, CEO and president, Georgia-Pacific
 * Bill Caffey, executive vice president, operations excellence and compliance, Georgia-Pacific
 * Steve Feilmeier, executive vice president and chief financial officer, Koch Industries
 * Richard Fink, executive vice president, Koch Industries
 * Dale Gibbens, vice president of human resources, Koch Industries
 * Charles Koch, chairman and chief executive officer, Koch Industries
 * James L. Mahoney, vice president, operations excellence and compliance, Koch Industries
 * Joseph W. Moeller, vice chairman, Koch Industries
 * John Pittenger, senior vice president, Koch Industries

Contact Information
Georgia-Pacific LLC 133 Peachtree Street, N.E. Atlanta, GA 30303 Phone: (404) 652-4000 Website: http://www.gp.com

Related Sourcewatch articles

 * Tim Wigley
 * Save Our Species Alliance
 * The Nature Conservancy
 * A. D. Correll, Jr.
 * Robert Carswell
 * Rick Horder
 * W “H” Clark

External Resources

 * "Exposed: Koch Industries and Cancer Risk" Documentary, Brave New Foundation, 2011