Nashville TN, December 9--Louisiana-Pacific said it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Clarke County, Ala., the Clarke County Industrial Development Board, and the State of Alabama to build a new state-of-the art oriented strand board (OSB) mill in Clarke County, Ala.
The MOU provides for LP to develop and construct an industrial facility to manufacture OSB products on approximately 820 acres of land near Thomasville, Ala.
Pending execution of a definitive project agreement, LP will begin the first phase of plant development in the third quarter of 2005, with production start-up slated for late 2007. LP expects to employ at least 130 people at the plant, which will have an annual OSB production capacity of 700 million square feet.
LP CEO Rick Frost said, "This new mill in Alabama, together with our joint venture OSB mill under construction in British Columbia and LP's strategic $250 million capital plan to revitalize our existing OSB mills, reinforces our commitment to maintaining LP's leadership position in the structural panels industry with state-of-the-art technology, low-cost manufacturing capacity and the highest quality for our customers."
