DaytonDailyNews.com

DAYTON — NewPage Corp. has a new ally in its case before the government alleging that China, and other nations are dumping subsidized paper products into the United States.

The Sierra Club said this week it has joined NewPage and the United Steelworkers of America in asking the government to examine their charges.

In December 2006, the U.S. International Trade Commission voted that there is a reasonable indication that the American paper industry is harmed by coated free sheet paper imports from China, Indonesia and South Korea.

The case proceeded to the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Coated free sheet paper is used in high-end products such as corporate annual reports, coffee table books, magazines and brochures.

Margrete Strand Rangnes, a Sierra Club spokeswoman, said Thursday this was the first time her organization had teamed with the Steelworkers in a complaint like this one.

The Sierra Club wants the Commerce Department to treat lax enforcement of environmental laws in foreign countries as a "subsidy" that the U.S. could counter with duties on imports.

"We are pleased to see them support our efforts," said Amber Garwood, a NewPage spokeswoman.

Specifically, the Sierra Club wants the government to probe whether Indonesian paper companies benefit from using "illegally logged" timber.

According to the organization, in 2004 there were about 12,150 Steelworkers jobs at 22 U.S. mills that made coated free sheet paper.

In 2007, 9,800 of those jobs remain, the club said.

Based in Dayton, NewPage has 250 Dayton-area employees and 4,300 employees altogether.