Mainebiz

V O L . X X V I I I N O. X X V I I N OV E M B E R 1 4 , 2 0 2 2 6 The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced it completed com- prehensive reviews of site cleanups at National Priority List Sites (Superfund Sites) by performing required Five-Year Reviews of each site. The reviews included three locations in Maine: O'Connor Co., Augusta; Union Chemical Co. Inc., South Hope; Winthrop Landfill, Winthrop: and Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery. Gov. Janet Mills announced that the Maine Department of Health and Human Services will award $5.5 million to current and new Maine child care pro- viders in the latest round of investments her administration is making to expand the availability of affordable, high-quality child care for Maine's working families. U.S. Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King announced that four Maine munici- palities and Penobscot County received a total of $726,492 to hire law enforce- ment officers. The funding was awarded through the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Community Oriented Policing Services Hiring Program. Recipients included Penobscot County, $250,000; city of Biddeford, town of Brunswick and city of Caribou, $125,000 each; and the town of Mexico, $101,492. Cambria Hotel Portland Downtown– Old Port, a six-story, 102-room hotel, opened at 25 Hancock St. in Portland. B U S I N E S S M A I N E Business news from around the state A Look at Maine's Future Economy for 2023 Join us as we take a look at Maine's future economy for 2023 and iden- tify leading economic indicators, opportunities, and challenges for Maine's future. A panel of Maine CEOs and leaders as they address four indicating industries and how they see the marketplace performing in 2023. B A C KG R O U N D B Y F R E E P I K MAINEBIZ.BIZ/5ON23 JANUARY 19 / HOLIDAY INN BY THE BAY, PORTLAND KEYNOTE & MODERATOR Amanda Rector Maine State Economist Amanda will provide a forecast for 2023 and for the state of Maine, as it relates to national trends. #MB5on23 SP ONSORED BY B I Z M O N E Y A $400M investment for Louisiana- Pacific siding plant in Aroostook Co. B y A n n F i s h e r Houlton — LP Building Solutions is investing $400 million to expand its production facility in Houlton to manufacture more of its flagship siding. The plant, owned by Louisiana-Pacific Corp. (NYSE: LPX), is adding 100 new jobs along with a second SmartSide line that will add 340 million square feet a year in siding produc- tion capacity, for a total of 500 million square feet, Colby Wilson of LP Building Solutions told Mainebiz. Construction is scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2023, and be completed sometime in 2024. Wilson would not hazard a guess about which quarter in 2024 would see the project reach completion. The additional square footage will bring LP's total SmartSide production capacity to roughly 2.6 billion square feet at its 11 siding mills, including three in Wisconsin as well as St. Louis, Mo., Michigan and North Carolina. Houlton is the second-longest running mill, Wilson said. The expansion is moving forward due to the hot market for building materials and the Houlton plant's capacity for more production and "what people are able to do," Wilson said. "We're in a good position relative to competitive housing." LP's announcement follows a $150 million investment to convert the facility from the manufacture of OSB to the company's flagship SmartSide trim and siding product in 2021. The Houlton facility was opened in 1981 as an ori- ented strand board mill and is LP's second-longest-running facility. This is LP's third major capital expansion project at Houlton and second since 2021. About Louisiana-Pacific Louisiana-Pacific is a global manufacturer of high-performance engineered wood products used in new home construction, repair and remodel, and outdoor structures. The company was founded in 1972 in Portland, Ore., and the headquarters moved to Nashville, Tenn., in 2001. In 2021, the company had total revenue of $4.55 billion, including $1.17 billion from siding sales. P H O T O / C O U R T E S Y O F L P B U I L D I N G S O L U T I O N S LP Building Solutions is adding 100 new jobs along with a second SmartSide line that will add 340 million square feet a year in siding production, more than double the existing capacity. N O T E W O R T H Y S T A T E W I D E S T A T E W I D E N O T E W O R T H Y S O U T H E R N S O U T H E R N LP Building Solutions is adding 100 new jobs to accommodate a second SmartSide production line that will add 340 million square feet a year in siding production space to the Houlton plant.

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