Directly south of Somerset County, near the West Virginia border, is the town of Luke, Maryland.
Luke, which is home to less than 100 residents, was the site of a paper mill operated by Verso Corp. This mill — which used to have hundreds of workers and was Allegany County's largest employer — was closed by Verso on April 30, 2019.
Three years after the closure of Luke's small-town paper mill, the industrial equipment and other assets are set to be auctioned off.
"When the mill left, there was certainly a tremendous void in the community," said Shawn Bender, energy and natural resources chair of the Greater Cumberland Committee, an economic, transportation, education and workforce development nonprofit for Allegany and Garrett counties in Maryland, Somerset and Bedford counties in Pennsylvania and Mineral County in West Virginia.
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Verso blamed a decline in customer demand and rising environmental regulations for the mill's closure.
"It is unfortunate that we had to make the decision to close the Luke Mill, but the continuing decline in demand for the grades of paper manufactured there left us no choice but to close this facility that has struggled with profitability for a number of years," Verso's interim CEO Leslie Lederer said in a 2019 press release.
"The company explored the possibility of producing alternate grades of paper products but the conclusion remained the same — we could not achieve profitability at the mill in today's market environment. Consistently matching the supply of our graphic paper products with customer demand for these products, reducing our costs and rapidly diversifying our product portfolio into growing markets remain essential drivers for Verso's long-term success, and we continue to vigorously pursue these objectives."
Verso said 675 employees were laid off.
"The decision to close this mill that has been in operation for more than 130 years was an extremely difficult one, and is in no way a reflection on the dedicated men and women who work there," Lederer said.
"We know that this will be an extraordinarily emotional and challenging time for our Luke Mill team, and Verso is committed to treating them with fairness, respect and dignity during this difficult time. We will also do our utmost to ensure employee safety during the transition. I want to thank each and every member of the Luke team for their hard work and dedicated service to the mill, to Verso and to our customers."
In May of 2020, the state of Maryland led a lawsuit against Verso, claiming the company violated multiple environmental laws and leaked arsenic, boron and methyl mercury into the North Branch Potomac River.
Verso settled in court for $650,000 and agreed to clean the contamination.
According to Bender, the effect of the mill's closure was felt almost immediately. In addition to the hundreds of direct jobs, there were also many maintenance and support jobs that were also lost.
The forestry industry also took an immediate hit after all of the low-grade lumber, usually used in paper production, was left.
"Timber that had a market now doesn't have a market," Bender said. "Leaving that low-grade lumber in forests means we end up with less quality forests than we have now."
He also added he is excited to see the auction at the paper mill, which will clear out unused items and allow possibly a new business to move in.
"Regardless of the type of industry," he said, "it's out with the old and in with the new."
The online-only auction is to begin at 10 a.m. each day from June 1-3. The assets are to be made available for inspection between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. May 31 at 300 Pratt St., Luke, Maryland.
Auction items include Wagner log loaders, wheeled dozers, Bobcat skid steers, dump trucks, dozens of forklifts and trucks, paper machinery, spare parts and other components.