Celanese Plant Nears End

Pampa company plans to lay off 200 workers, shut down in January

After a gradual decline, the end is in sight for Pampa's Celanese plant as the company lays off the last of its workers.

"It's like driving past the old homestead," said Dietta Pope, who worked there 28 years before retiring in 2000. "I grew up out there."

The plant opened in 1952 but the Texas Workforce Commission announced Monday that Celanese will lay off about 200 employees. Mundy Contract Maintenance, which has done work for Celanese at the plant since 1989, is also laying off about 58 people.

"We anticipate shutting down production no later than Jan. 4 and removal of finished product by March 1, so it will be a bit of a phased layoff," said Travis Jacobsen, Celanese spokesman.

The plant manufactures a chemical used to make plastics, such as rayon for textiles and film for cameras, and a chemical used in the processing of a range of substances from aspirin to pharmaceutical heroin.

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