Chillicothe's skyline is looking a little brighter these days due to an ongoing clean-up and restoration of the city's iconic Glatfelter Smokestack.
The clean up effort got underway in June and is expected to be completed sometime in September.
Eileen Beck, HR and Communications Director for Glatfelter, says the restoration includes work both inside and out.
"We had a big initiative where we had to convert some of mill's boilers from coal to natural gas," said Beck. "So this round of repairs is something that was done tied to that project, and all together it’s part of how we are approaching our work from an environmental standpoint."
Beck says the restoration includes work on the stack's foundation as well as painting.
"It's more than just painting," said Beck. They're doing some concrete work. There's concrete that was cracked so they're repairing that. They're replacing the concrete in the damaged areas and putting in new rebar. They'll then apply grout. Once that's finished the new paint will go on."
The color scheme of the smokestack is something the company has received a lot of input from the community over, particularly changing the color, but Beck says the company's hands are tied when it comes to that aspect of the smokestack.
"We have people writing in and suggesting different colors," said Beck. "But that's something that goes back to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). They have specific regulations that we have to follow. We use what we call Aviation Orange and White. That's not something we have latitude to change."
The original construction of the stack began in 1964 and was completed in 1965. At that time, Beck says the smokestack was the largest continually poured stack in the world.