Oregon Public Broadcasting

270 workers in Albany found out  Thursday they will lose their jobs by the end of the year.

Ethan Lindsey reports that International Paper will shut down one of its last remaining Oregon mills.

The iconic smokestacks of the International Paper factory along I-5 in Albany will stop pumping smoke in a few months.

Mills in Virginia, Louisiana, and Oklahoma will also permanently close as part of 16-hundred job cuts at the company.

Albany mill manager Jeff Yoder is among those losing their jobs.

Jeff Yoder: “There’s really not a lot of time to be worried about myself.”

Yoder says containerboard is used to box new products.

Jeff Yoder: “I’m not an economist, by a long shot, we tend to be a leading indicator of a slowing economy and we tend to lag a recovery.”

Local businesses say the news is “pretty devastating” – International Paper jobs were numerous, long-term, and they paid well. 

Outsiders used to complain about the odor from the mill; locals used to call it the “smell of money”.

Either way, come next year, the smoke will no longer blow.