Work building booms on hold

CLAYTON — Workers at Ridgeline Industries are taking a break from building booms to contain the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, but there might be more work coming their way.

The tent manufacturer has built more than 100,000 feet of boom since May to help contain the spill and prevent further damage to the environment. The work took some 15 employees seven weeks to complete.

"We worked really hard and went through some tough periods. But at the end of day, I think everybody felt good and felt like they made a contribution to the ongoing efforts to contain the spill in the Gulf of Mexico," said Richard Ryan, owner of Ridgeline, Graves Street.

There is a demand for more booms, Mr. Ryan said, but the work is on hold because BP has yet to give the company the specifications for the additional booms it needs.

Ridgeline's initial goal was to build about 200,000 feet of boom for a Chicago company that was hired by BP to supply the booms.

Ridgeline barely broke even, said Mr. Ryan, Henderson, but the work allowed it to create more local jobs and benefit the economy of the region by buying material from Northern New York suppliers.

"It's not really going to leave me with a profit, but it did help us purchase new equipment, and I've also got a really good team of workers right now," he said. "For us, there were a lot of advantages to working on this project."

The tent company had only three employees before it was awarded the contract in mid-May. Since then, Mr. Ryan hired about a dozen additional workers.

The new sewing equipment will come in handy when the company starts building tents for the military again, Mr. Ryan said. Ridgeline has been making military tents for more than 20 years.