Texas Invista Plants Closing for Ike

Houston, TX, Sept. 12, 2008--Koch Industries subsidiary Invista has begun to shut down temporarily three of its plants in south Texas because of hurricane Ike and told those employees not to report for work today.

Two of those plants -- in La Porte and Orange -- are in areas where mandatory evacuation has been ordered.

The third plant, which is in Victoria, isn't expected to be in the direct path of the hurricane. But company officials ordered it shut down "out of an abundance of caution," said Roger Ramseyer, an Invista spokesman at its national headquarters in Wichita.

"We actually began procedures to shut down all three plants (Wednesday)," Ramseyer said. "You don't just flip a switch. You have to do it over time for minimum impact.

"The important thing is you want to be able to shut down sites in a safe and systematic manner to allow your employees to safely evacuate."

Koch and its companies have about 1,000 employees in the Houston area, including the La Porte plant.