But Curtis said doing much more would be expensive. And he said his mill has thin profit margins because of intense competition from Chinese paper mills, which have almost no environmental regulations. Because of this foreign competition, the Luke plant has cut 450 jobs and shut a third of its paper machines over the past nine years.
Thomas Caldwell, a 39-year veteran worker at the plant and president of the U.S. Steelworkers Union local that represents employees here, said he's worried about the plant closing and the area's tax base and schools being "crippled" because of the proposed law.
"It makes absolutely no sense to allow us to burn no coal here in Maryland - but allow our Chinese competition to burn coal to make the exact same product," Caldwell said.
FOR THE RECORD - Based on inaccurate information from company officials, an article in Feb. 29 editions reported incorrectly that the NewPage mill in Luke, in Western Maryland, makes paper for Pottery Barn and Williams-Sonoma catalogs. In fact, another NewPage mill makes paper for the catalogs.
The Sun regrets the error.
The factory rolls out 1,530 tons a day of magazine-quality paper used for catalogues and other publications. The company pays its employees an average of $22.50 an hour - a high wage in a poor rural area that saw its tire, glass and textile factories close in the 1970s and 1980s.
Plant from the past
The paper mill looks like something from the 19th century. It churns away next to the Potomac River in a wooded Appalachian mountain valley, with vast clouds of steam billowing out of its 623-foot-tall brick smokestack and rolling above nearby rowhouses.
The factory hasn't always been easy on the environment. The state in 2000 imposed a $450,000 fine against the factory's former owner, Westvaco, and the operator of a sewage plant used by the mill for polluting the Potomac River.
But the mill is literally connected to the community.
Steam pipes from the plant's boilers run under the town's main street and provide heat for 21 nearby homes. The 80 residents of the town of Luke (named after William Luke, who started the first mill here in 1888) also get water, sewage and trash collection from the factory.
"This is one of the lone remaining heavy industries in the whole region," said Matt Diaz, director of economic development for Allegany County. "If it closed, it would have a ripple effect all over Western Maryland, impacting not only mill workers, but also a lot of loggers and coal miners and truck drivers."
tom.pelton@baltsun.com
