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Kodak gets help from county $1.5 million in bonds will help the company pay for better pollution control By DAMIAN MANN Mail Tribune WHITE CITY - Eastman Kodak's $45 million expansion of its Rogue Valley dry film X-ray production facility received a $1.5 million boost recently from Jackson County. The county's Urban Renewal Agency provided taxable bonds to help offset the costs of upgrading pollution controls as part of the plant's efforts to double production capacity. "We gave them the money last week," said County Administrator Sue Slack. "We have supported companies before when they have installed higher levels of pollution-control devices." Under the arrangement with Kodak, the county will be reimbursed over seven years through expected increases in property taxes from improvements to the 250,000-square-foot facility on Pacific near Avenue G. The county also will benefit from jobs added at the plant, which now has 420 employees - double what it had five years ago. The upgrades include removing 13 tanks that held chemicals, adding new pollution-control incinerators, building a railway terminal, upgrading machines and installing new sidewalks. Slack said the arrangement would require the company to repay the taxable bonds even if there were a downturn in the facility's assessed value. So far, the plant, which produces a special X-ray film that doesn't require chemicals to develop, has been immune to the effects of the recession. But nationwide, Kodak, based in Rochester, N.Y., announced layoffs in October of 3,500 to 4,000 jobs as overall profits declined 77 percent in its third quarter because of weak sales. In contrast, the White City facility, spurred by hot demand for its DryView medical imaging film, has doubled its capacity in the past few years. Kaiser Permanente, the nation's largest health maintenance organization, has a multiyear contract for the imaging system technology and dry film. The specialty film, which requires a printer that costs more than $40,000, allows hospitals and other health facilities the option of printing out the digital image of an X-ray, MRI, ultrasound or CT scans on a 14-by-17-inch piece of film. In producing this material, the plant uses common organic solvents such as methyl ethyl ketones, acetone and toluene. These chemicals had been stored in 13 containers for reuse. But as part of the expansion, the company will install incinerators to burn the chemicals instead. Previously, a minute amount of chemical was released in the atmosphere as the chemicals changed from liquid to gas in the production process. The company still met state and federal guidelines for air quality, however. The plant's new incinerators reportedly will burn off more of the chemical vapors. Slack said the Urban Renewal Agency has undertaken similar arrangements with other companies such as Boise Cascade Corp. Reach reporter Damian Mann at 776-4476, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.