Timber Products' Mississippi Mill Earns Formaldehyde Certification

SPRINGFIELD, Ore. – With three months to go before California enacts the world's strictest formaldehyde regulations on composite wood panels, Timber Products Company announced today that its hardwood plywood and particleboard mills in Medford, Ore., have been certified to meet the California Air Resources Board (CARB) requirements.

Corinth's designation means that all Timber Products hardwood plywood and particleboard manufacturing facilities are now CARB-certified. The company's two Oregon-based mills, in Grants Pass and Medford, were certified to produce panels that meet the strict formaldehyde levels last September.

The audit process was conducted by the Hardwood Plywood Veneer Association, a U.S. agency authorized by CARB as an official third-party certification body.

"Companies across the country are monitoring the new CARB regulations and are requesting raw materials that are certified," said Timber Products Vice President Roger Rutan. "Customers that sell products into California can be assured that our GreenT hardwood plywood is CARB-certified and comes with all the required documentation."

Phase II products on the way
Timber Products' GreenT hardwood plywood currently meets or exceeds CARB Phase I formaldehyde levels for panels made with MDF, veneer core and particleboard cores, as well as all raw particleboard. To make the transition to Phase II products as smooth as possible before the Jan. 1, 2010, deadline, Timber Products is aiming to introduce Phase II-certified hardwood plywood panels by the middle of 2009.

"Our goal is to ensure that customers can order Phase II material well in advance so they won't have to worry about complying with this last phase of the rule," said Rutan. "This will make the Phase II sell-through provisions a non-issue as our customers will have more than adequate time to sell through Phase I material."

Particleboard and MDF have an additional year, until Jan. 1, 2011, to comply with Phase II emission levels.

More information can be found at www.timberproducts.com

About Timber Products Company
Founded in 1918, Timber Products Company offers a wide range of diversified wood products and specializes in hardwood plywood. The company is one of the largest material suppliers to the U.S. kitchen cabinet industry. Timber Products owns nine state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities across the United States, a major international division, and 118,000 acres of forestland in Northern California managed under the strict standards of the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI®) program. Timber Products was the world's first hardwood plywood manufacturer authorized to carry the SFI label and began offering products certified by the Forest Stewardship Council in 2007. The company also operates TP Trucking, a nationwide transportation division.