Last month, Enviva proposed a plan to exit bankruptcy that would leave existing shareholders with just 5% of the stock in a restructured company.
Local fallout
Enviva's storm-damaged plant in Amory is running again, but the company has left unpaid bills around town. Contractors, two hardware stores and the municipal utility, which says Enviva owes it $161,000 for water and power, have filed claims in the bankruptcy court.
Downriver in Epes, which counts fewer than 300 residents, hopes remain high about the plant under construction. Census data show that only about 30% of residents have jobs, half the national rate. There is plenty of wood: more than 5 million acres of timberland in a 60-mile radius around town.
Enviva's decision to build where a wood-flooring plant closed in 2019, and to hire more than 80 people, was celebrated as a big win for one of the poorest parts of the U.S.
To pay for the construction, Enviva tapped Alabama and federal economic-development funds and sold $250 million in tax-free green bonds through the Industrial Development Authority of Sumter County.
Economic development officials are now working to draw a dollar store to Epes to give mill workers a place to spend money, said the industrial development authority's Allison Brantley.
After filing for bankruptcy protection, Enviva executives assured local officials that construction remained on pace and that it would meet its financial obligations, Brantley said.
In bankruptcy court, though, creditors from western Alabama have lined up. The Sumter County Tax Collector seeks nearly $97,000. The industrial development authority wants more than $1.1 million that it says is Enviva's share of the cost of dredging the port, which has been dormant since the 1990s.
Write to Ryan Dezember at ryan.dezember@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 10, 2024 19:00 ET (23:00 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2024 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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