GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – The second smoke stack at the Georgia-Pacific Broadway plant is nearly gone.
The demolition process began this summer. Now, the stack has nearly disappeared from the Green Bay skyline.
“The plan was to get the the second of the two stacks down by the end of the summer, and it looks like that will work,” said Public Affairs Manager, Mike Kawleski.
A crane was used to knock the stack down to a certain level before a high-reach excavator was brought in to bring it down even more. The process is now moving into the third stage.
“No wrecking ball is necessary. They just pick it apart with a high reach excavator, and when it gets down to about 30 feet tall then regular excavator can take care of it,” Kawleski told WTAQ News. “It was supposed to be down to about 30 feet tall by the end of August so I think if we’re not there were awfully close.”
The process has been slow at times due to weather. Kawleski says at certain heights, wind can become a factor – as well as the potential lightning risk as larger storms rolled through.
The entire purpose of removing the stacks comes as the facility makes a full transition away from coal power, and the company has spent millions of dollars to shift towards natural gas.
“We quit using coal at the end of last year. We’re now on natural gas, which is a much cleaner fuel, obviously. So with the investment in that power source, we’re set up for years and years in the future. So it’s a good thing,” Kawleski said. “The old stacks were the history, and this new look is the future.”
The concrete is being crushed and reused across the 200-acre site for fill and creating bases for other structures. Any metal and rebar is also being recycled as much as possible.
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