NATCHEZ &045; The current shutdown of International Paper’s Natchez mill has nothing to do with its impending closure, mill Manager Steve Olsen said Monday.

In a statement released Monday afternoon, Olsen said the shutdown, which started Thursday and is expected to last a week, was partly due to a critical shortage of wood due to heavy rainfall in the Southeast.

&uot;The Natchez Mill began a shutdown in order to build its inventory of wood,&uot; Olsen said. &uot;In addition, certain maintenance issues have arisen that require immediate attention.

&uot;If wood harvesting conditions don’t improve, the length of the shutdown could be extended,&uot; he said.

The statement also noted that employees can apply vacation and personal days to the shutdown days.

Olsen could not be reached later Monday afternoon for further comment.

While Olsen said the current work suspension has nothing to do with IP’s Jan. 23 announcement that the mill would shut down in mid-summer, preparations continue for the mill’s shutdown.

The mill is due in mid-April to submit a closure plan to the state Department of Environmental Quality. In that plan, the company will detail how it will dispose of all waste materials on site.

Those substances will include waste from the company’s wastewater treatment facilities and on-site landfill as well as any chemicals used in its processes.

In its plan, IP must spell out the types of waste on site and its methods of disposing of them. Proper disposal methods could include selling any leftover chemicals to other companies or taking the waste to a landfill.

Since that plan must be filed at least 90 days before IP leaves its Natchez site, that would put the mill’s closing date in mid-July, &uot;although I think that will depend a lot on their suppliers and customers,&uot; said the DEQ’s Steve Spengler.

And although representatives of the mill’s unions have ironed out the details of most benefits with IP officials, a retirement plan negotiated on the national level for all IP employees must still be ratified.

That vote is set to take place April 20, said George Robinson, a union president at the mill. A simple majority vote would put the retirement plan into effect June 1.

However, Robinson said details of the plan will not be given out by union officials until the vote is taken.