Louisiana-Pacific, G-P make deal for Baileyville mill Oriented-strand-board plant often idle

Louisiana-Pacific Corp. said Tuesday it has reached a deal with Georgia-Pacific Corp. to acquire G-P’s oriented-strand-board plant in Baileyville.

The OSB mill in Washington County has been idle frequently recently, including a shutdown announced Dec. 21, when it employed about 80 hourly workers.

Ralph Hicks, manager of the OSB plant, could not be reached Tuesday for comment.

Georgia-Pacific retained ownership of the OSB mill after it sold its 600-employee pulp and paper mill in Baileyville to Montreal-based Domtar Industries Inc.

Louisiana-Pacific has a prominent operation in New Limerick, which just marked 20 years in the business of making oriented-strand board, a plywoodlike wood product made from wafers of wood.

LP, based in Portland, Ore., said in a news release that its deal with G-P involves transfer of its Texas and Louisiana plywood mills to G-P in exchange for the Baileyville mill “and some additional consideration.”

It did not elaborate. LP spokesman David Dugan could not be reached Tuesday evening to explain the details, including what L-P’s plans for the Baileyville mill might be.

In May, LP announced its intention to exit the plywood business as part of an asset sale and reduction program.

Significantly, LP announced just two months ago that it was putting 13 of its 14 OSB plants in North America on “market-related downtime.” The 14th mill, in Quebec, was already idled by a strike.