Lyondell announces Oct. close of Route 36 ethanol plant
Photo: Stephanie Wierman
LyondellBasell announced that they would be closing their Tuscola plant in October this year due to poor market conditions in the synthetic ethanol business.
Submitted Photo
USI (later LyondellBassell) pictured in 1961.
By Kendra Hennis
Employees of LyondellBasell were told on Friday, August 13 that the ethanol production plant in Tuscola will shut down permanently later this year due to poor market conditions.
LyondellBasell spokesperson Megan Borchers said, “After a careful review of market conditions, we have made the difficult decision to permanently exit the synthetic ethanol business and close our Tuscola plant operations. We will be taking a phased approach to closing the Tuscola plant. We are in the process of determining how many people will be necessary in each of the different phases”
“This decision was not taken lightly,” she added. “We have an incredible team of hardworking, dedicated people at our Tuscola plant who have safely and successfully maintained the last remaining synthetic-ethanol business in North America. Unfortunately, the synthetic-ethanol market has been deteriorating for some time, and these declining market conditions make operating this business long-term financially unviable.”
Borchers noted that the company expects to stop producing ethanol by Oct. 31. She also added that employees will be offered positions at other LyondellBasell holdings along with separation benefits and support, and that the company was working with union representatives where applicable.
USI (later LyondellBasell) began talks of coming to Tuscola in June of 1951; and hired their first employee in July of 1951. The plant has had a huge impact on the community for years, with a 15 percent increase of residents to Douglas County from the plant beginning in the ‘60’s. Numerous residents have had family who worked in the plant, and many worked there themselves. I remember my first visit being to a summer science camp held. It is truly a place that has made a large mark on Tuscola, and it will be deeply missed.
Brian Moody, director of Tuscola Chamber & Economic Development Inc. noted that the news was disappointing and emotional for the Douglas County community, which has been home to a chemical plant at the Route 36 location just west of town for more than 50 years.
“Our first concern is with the employees and their families over the uncertainty they are experiencing,” Moody said. “We will now direct our focus to supporting the impacted employees by bringing resources and services to help them as they search for new career opportunities.”
“We recognize the positive impact the facility has had on our local economy for over half a century,” he added. “We know the value which has been added to our region and the role this facility has played in building our community. Thousands of lives have benefited from the operations here. We have had a long, positive relationship with this facility and its employees. We want to recognize the people who built, maintained and safely operated the complex over these many years.”
Moody also noted that the Chamber & Economic Development and Douglas County Regional Workplace Center will do what it can to help LyondellBasell employees find other work while trying to find other businesses for Douglas County.
How much actual cash assistance, or aide, is there in \\\\\ ‘Our first concern is with the employees and their families over the uncertainty they are experiencing,” Brian Moody, director of Tuscola Chamber & Economic Development Inc.
Moody said. “We will now direct our focus to supporting the impacted employees by bringing resources and services to help them as they search for new career opportunities.” ///// Looks to me like a lot of fancy sounding hogwash. This great company, which the county went out of their way to give sweetheart deals and cut taxes after intense sessions of Douglas County begging, forgot to negotiate anything that would help the workers just in case this sort of thing happened. The state economic study predicted years ago that this methanol market is always unstable, and that it has learned to cut costs by playing local jurisdictions off against each other. These guys had to deal with Shelby and Cass. Now they’re leaving. And, no new jobs are in sight. Looks to me like Moody has been left holding the bag while the ‘good corporate citizen and corporation’ sneaks out of town, like the Baltimore Colts did back in 1984. Mr. Moody, bless his heart, actually has not authority or authorization to help any of the workers who got canned. The most he can do, because of bad or non existent initial planning over the workforce, is refer them to the state Unemployment Office and get them to file. And, of course, ask them to use the staff there to help them locate another local job. Again, that’s not really help. The local guy at the car wash could do that much. Good luck to the workers. Or, the ex-workers.