Lumber Firm Expects Charges of Environmental Violations
Louisiana-Pacific Corp. said it expects to be indicted by a federal grand jury on allegations that it tampered with environmental monitoring equipment and submitted false product samples to a product certification agency.
The charges add to a string of environmental problems at the Portland, Ore., company in recent years. Louisiana-Pacific has paid $17 million in environmental penalties in the past two years.
The allegations include tampering with emissions monitoring equipment and altering records at its Montrose, Colo., plant, according to information repeated in a Form 10-Q the company filed May 15 with the SEC. The Wall Street Journal reported the contents of the filing Thursday.
The company’s shares fell 15% on Thursday after the announcement, closing down $4 at $22.75 on trading of 4.57 million shares, more than 10 times its three-month daily average.
L-P also faces a federal grand jury investigation regarding allegations that it submitted non-representative oriented-strand-board (OSB) samples to the American Plywood Assn., an industry product certification agency.
“It is likely that [the company] will be indicted with respect to both the environmental and the APA-related matters,” Louisiana-Pacific said in the SEC filing. “The resolution of these matters could have a materially adverse impact.”
L-P began an internal investigation of the environmental matters in the summer of 1992 and reported its initial findings to the government in September, 1992. Louisiana-Pacific said it has begun an independent investigation of irregularities in sampling and quality assurance at its OSB operations. Charles Renfrew, a retired federal judge, is overseeing the internal inquiry.
