Covington mill's fate uncertain as MeadWestvaco announces restructuring

I hope that Meadwestvaco will not close the Covington plant. We have been hit hard enough in this recession. This company has ben a great employer for years. The tobacco and wood industry supported this state for a long long time. Many of the workers, loggers and truckers don't have a high school education. They have no unemployment benefits as they are self employed. What will become of them and their families?
The revenue from the DMV the road taxes, and fuel will be a great loss as the income taxes also.
Let's keep this corporation up and running.

Very well said Debbie

total agreement with debbie

If they shut it down it would be to hire people at a lesser pay grade. My husband worked there for years until he retired, but thank god he is out of the mess. I hope for the families that have men or women working at MVW (they want to be called MVW) are safe with their jobs. Good luck

If the good folks at Meadwestvaco had not be so staunchly opposed to any other large manufacturers opening plants in the area then the areas fate would not be so entwined with the fate of MWV. As it is, if she goes we all go. Where all all the young MWV employees? Noticed any empty houses around town? Just an observation.

I just wonder if MWV was to shut down if the cancer rate in the area would drop and would the local river ever recover from the abuse this company has done to it over the past 60-70 years.
I am a nature lover and it really kills me to see what MWV and CSX has done to our environment over the years they have been in buisness here..Yes, its sad that all those people would lose their jobs and the local economy would suffer greatly(been suffering since the 80's when CSX moved out), but change is needed here in a bad kind of way.

I wonder how much cancer is caused by lifestyle choices people make such as smoking? If the President and Congress get their way, we will close down much of America's manufacturing capacity and will exchange minimal pollution, when compared to the developing world,for poverty and despare of the millions who will lose their jobs. Our cancer rate in the Alleghany Highlands will certainly increase. When there are only five people left and one of them gets sick the rate will be 20%. I wonder how much damage has been done to Virginia's environment by the thousands of acres that get paved over each year in high growth areas to create new strip malls and subdivisions? All of this development drains into the Chesapeake

Robbie wrote:

I wonder how much cancer is caused by lifestyle choices people make such as smoking? If the President and Congress get their way, we will close down much of America's manufacturing capacity and will exchange minimal pollution, when compared to the developing world,for poverty and despare of the millions who will lose their jobs. Our cancer rate in the Alleghany Highlands will certainly increase. When there are only five people left and one of them gets sick the rate will be 20%. I wonder how much damage has been done to Virginia's environment by the thousands of acres that get paved over each year in high growth areas to create new strip malls and subdivisions? All of this development drains into the Chesapeake

Could not have said it better.

Robbie wrote:

I wonder how much cancer is caused by lifestyle choices people make such as smoking? If the President and Congress get their way, we will close down much of America's manufacturing capacity and will exchange minimal pollution, when compared to the developing world,for poverty and despare of the millions who will lose their jobs. Our cancer rate in the Alleghany Highlands will certainly increase. When there are only five people left and one of them gets sick the rate will be 20%. I wonder how much damage has been done to Virginia's environment by the thousands of acres that get paved over each year in high growth areas to create new strip malls and subdivisions? All of this development drains into the Chesapeake

I do believe that smoking is a personal choice that an individual makes on their own and really has nothing to do about company's that are well known for dumping their waste into the water.

You honestly sound like a WMV brainwashed employee that chooses to over look the mess for the money.

There is a reason that MWV has been the number two polluter in the entire state of VA for years.
The only reason they continue, is because they know the public in this area is so scared to say anything about what they have done to our lovely area and they could just simply pull out if to many OUTSIDE eyes started to look in..

http://www.roanoke.com/news/nrv/wb/111485

Please get a boat, and take a river trip above WMV on the Jackson River and then take a trip below MWV on the Jackson River.. The water quality is SH*T from the mill all the way to Richmond, so please dont sit there and tell me the Bay is hurt from strip-malls and highways.
I refuse to be a sheep and support a company such as MWV or CSX for that matter....When they do shut down, I can only hope that they fix the problems they have created, but that will never happen like when the RR left, they left their trash behind too.

Nature Lover wrote:

<quoted text>
I do believe that smoking is a personal choice that an individual makes on their own and really has nothing to do about company's that are well known for dumping their waste into the water.
You honestly sound like a WMV brainwashed employee that chooses to over look the mess for the money.
There is a reason that MWV has been the number two polluter in the entire state of VA for years.
The only reason they continue, is because they know the public in this area is so scared to say anything about what they have done to our lovely area and they could just simply pull out if to many OUTSIDE eyes started to look in..
http://www.roanoke.com/news/nrv/wb/111485
Please get a boat, and take a river trip above WMV on the Jackson River and then take a trip below MWV on the Jackson River.. The water quality is SH*T from the mill all the way to Richmond, so please dont sit there and tell me the Bay is hurt from strip-malls and highways.
I refuse to be a sheep and support a company such as MWV or CSX for that matter....When they do shut down, I can only hope that they fix the problems they have created, but that will never happen like when the RR left, they left their trash behind too.

Well no, smoking doesn't have anything to do with the mill. Your post contended that the mill was the cause of of a higher cancer rate in the area. I was merely pointing out that we have a very high percentage of smokers and that contributes to increased cancer rates. I am an ex-MeadWestvaco employee whose job was eliminated when Westvaco merged with Mead. I am well aware of the fact that there is pollution, but it is not anything near what people think. I have been on every mile of the Jackson from Gathright Dam to the headwater of the James. I have never been brainwashed by anyone since I used to actually test the river for this pollution you speak of to make sure the mill was in compliance with Federal and DEQ laws and I have enough d#mn sense to think for myself. Take if from someone who has worked in environmental science, there is no incentive for that mill or any other mill to just dump pollution into the river. They would be shut down by the EPA if they did such things intentionally. Yes, residential and commerical development is a huge factor in the Chespeake Bay Region. Fairfax County alone has over 1 million people and the associated number of cars, trucks, buses, and the roads and parking lots to hold them; and that is just one county in the Washington MSA. All that runoff eventually ends up in the bay unless it is treated at a WTP first. While Fairfax does have strict laws, they can't treat the runoff of all 396 square miles. We have enough problems now. I can only imagine the poverty, drugs, and devestation that will be caused if the mill does close, because a significant number of people will be too old or have insufficent skills to work anywhere else. The mill in Covington was stared in 1899 by the way. That mill was also the first in the United States to install a biological waste treatment system to clean thier effluent in the 1950's. I wish there was no pollution at all anywhere, but I also know that if we are to survive as a nation we have to have a manufacturing base. What kinds of non-polluting industry do you think we should recruit to replace the several thousand jobs that would be lost at the mill and associated business?

amen robbie, i work at the mwv in evadale tx. i have been there for 14 years we r feeling the effect of the economy. we recently shut down #2 machine laying off 35 people.these people have families, but the greenies and the tree huggers have no concept of a family. they r too busy trying to save a stupid spotted owl.mwv spend alot of time and money cleaning up the air and water.i think nature lover is using up our good air.that is whats wrong with the USA today.

true american wrote:

amen robbie, i work at the mwv in evadale tx. i have been there for 14 years we r feeling the effect of the economy. we recently shut down #2 machine laying off 35 people.these people have families, but the greenies and the tree huggers have no concept of a family. they r too busy trying to save a stupid spotted owl.mwv spend alot of time and money cleaning up the air and water.i think nature lover is using up our good air.that is whats
wrong with the USA today.

What will Covington do if the Mill closes? I am so sick of people that want more greenies or trees that people should take a stand to say we need to live and feed our families as much as you need the green spots and trees.

Wicked wrote:

<quoted text>
What will Covington do if the Mill closes? I am so sick of people that want more greenies or trees that people should take a stand to say we need to live and feed our families as much as you need the green spots and trees.

very well said!!! 100% agree.

I agree, we need to take back our country from leftist idealogs who don't live in the real world. By the way, I am proud of Texas. The Lone Star State sets a good example of the spirit if America. Keep it real and best regards to the folks in Evadale.

true american wrote:

amen robbie, i work at the mwv in evadale tx. i have been there for 14 years we r feeling the effect of the economy. we recently shut down #2 machine laying off 35 people.these people have families, but the greenies and the tree huggers have no concept of a family. they r too busy trying to save a stupid spotted owl.mwv spend alot of time and money cleaning up the air and water.i think nature lover is using up our good air.that is whats wrong with the USA today.

Nature Lover wrote:

I just wonder if MWV was to shut down if the cancer rate in the area would drop and would the local river ever recover from the abuse this company has done to it over the past 60-70 years.
I am a nature lover and it really kills me to see what MWV and CSX has done to our environment over the years they have been in buisness here..Yes, its sad that all those people would lose their jobs and the local economy would suffer greatly(been suffering since the 80's when CSX moved out), but change is needed here in a bad kind of way.

if you don!t like it here move.