PAPER CHASE

Facing what they perceive to be Wisconsin's unfavorable business climate and lengthy environmental permitting process, paper industry leaders are approaching an economic crossroads in what is becoming an increasingly national and global enterprise.

A Wisconsin Paper Council status report in February issuing those and other concerns "was a wake-up call for a number of folks," says Craig Dickman, CEO of Paper Transport, the Green Bay firm that once depended almost entirely on paper mills for business.

Pulp, paper and allied firms employ about 50,000 men and women. The average paper mill worker earns $49,000 annually, compared with an average annual state wage of about $30,000, according to state figures provided by the council. The impact the potential loss of those jobs could have on the economy would be staggering, according to Council President Patrick Schillinger.

Because those jobs always have been there, many residents are not aware of the challenges the industry faces in a weak economy, he says. Among them are the costs of doing business and unanticipated delays for enviromnental regulations. But the major players in Wisconsin's paper industry also have changed.

Paper once was a locally owned industry. Five years ago, there were no foreign-owned paper mills in Wisconsin, Schillinger says. Now there are six. The state's largest mill acquisition occurred three years ago when the Finlandbased Stora Enso purchased the 4,000-employee Consolidated Papers in Wisconsin Rapids, Schillinger says.

Others local firms have attained national connections. Kimberly-Clark moved its headquarters from Neenah to Dallas. Bergstrom Paper, renamed Glatfelter, transferred its base of operations from the Fox Valley to York, Pa. A De Pere mill run by U.S. Paper was acquired two years ago by the South Carolina-based Sinoco Paper.

In Green Bay, Fort Howard Paper Co. and James River Corp. long were two of the area's largest employers. When the firms merged in the late 1990s, they became the...