Amador County Business – Sierra Pacific Industries announced Monday that it will close 2 of its sawmills, making it the third such announcement for SPI this month. SPI on March 2nd announced that it would be closing a mill in Quincy in May. On Monday, the Sonora and Camino plant closures were announced. All three closures were based, in part, on reduced harvests in national forests. SPI spokesman Mark Pawlicki earlier this month said the Quincy closure came about because of the “reduced availability of national forest timber resulting from litigation,” which “forced SPI to transport logs over long distances at greater cost to keep the mill running.” Quincy manager Matt Taborski said the “environmental litigation has not only reduced the mill’s raw material supply, but also increased the risk of wildfires in the area.” On Monday, Pawlicki said SPI will also close a biomass-fueled electric power plant in Sonora, along with the mill there, affecting 146 employees in Sonora. The Camino closure will affect 164 workers, and the Quincy closure affected 150 workers. Pawlicki said approximately 160 people in Quincy “will remain employed at the large-log facility and biomass electric generation plant” in Quincy. SPI said the “difficult lumber market combined with reduced timber harvests on nearby national forest lands and state regulatory burdens were the primary drivers behind the decision to close the plants” in Sonora and Camino. The Camino plant will operate until about June 12th, Pawlicki said, and the Sonora sawmill and power plant will be open “until sometime in mid-July to deplete existing log decks.” Reasons for the two closures announced Monday included a “downturn in new home construction,” which has “reduced both the demand for lumber and the price,” Pawlicki said. And “there has been a fall-off in the amount of national forest and private timber for sale” in those areas, “causing uncertainty of supply.” He said the “Timber Harvest Plan” review process complexity and cost have “dramatically” slowed plan approvals. He said a “short timeframe” in current law limits harvests and “forces landowners to harvest timber, even in bad markets.” And he said “litigation of national forest timber sales by environmental organizations has put over 400 million board feet of potential sales on hold.” Workers at the Sonora and Camino millworkers are represented by the Carpenter’s Industrial Council union, and were notified of the mill closures on Monday. SPI said it will consider affected employees for other job opportunities within the company for those interested in relocating or transferring. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.