Goodyear to Close Niagara Falls and Bayport Rubber Additive Plants

The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company is closing its two remaining chemical plants, one in Niagara Falls, New York, and one in Bayport, Texas, as it leaves the chemical business for good. The company approved the plan on September 29, 2026, and made it public through a regulatory filing on October 1, 2026. The closures will remove about 85 jobs, most of them in Niagara Falls, and are expected to be substantially complete by the end of 2027.

Both plants make rubber additives and related raw materials that were left out of the 2025 sale of Goodyear's chemical business. The Niagara Falls plant produces antioxidants, antiozonants and anti-flex cracking agents sold under the Polystay name. These additives protect tires and other rubber parts from cracking and aging caused by heat, oxygen and ozone. The Bayport plant produces hydroquinone, two chemicals known as meta and para DIPB, acetone and some antioxidants. Industry reports say the hydroquinone made in Texas is used as a raw material at the Niagara Falls plant, which ties the two sites together in one small supply chain.

The closures are the last step of a long retreat from chemicals. On May 22, 2025, Goodyear announced the sale of most of its chemical business to an affiliate of Gemspring Capital Management for about $650 million. The deal took effect on October 31, 2025, and Goodyear received about $580 million in cash at closing. It covered the plants in Houston and Beaumont, Texas, and a research office in Akron, Ohio. Goodyear kept the Niagara Falls and Bayport plants, along with the rights to their products. The sale also included a 15-year supply agreement under which the buyer provides Goodyear with certain polymer chemical products, although the new filing does not describe how that agreement relates to the closures.

The cost of the shutdowns is significant. Goodyear estimates total pre-tax charges between $55 million and $75 million. About $30 million of that will be cash spending, mainly for decommissioning the plants and employee-related costs, while the rest is non-cash and comes mostly from accelerated depreciation. The company expects to book about $35 million in the third quarter of 2026 and about $15 million during the rest of the year, with most of the cash going out by the end of 2027. In return, Goodyear expects its Americas segment operating income to improve by about $15 million to $20 million per year starting in 2027.

Local reports now give a firmer date for Niagara Falls. The plant is scheduled to shut down on October 31, 2026, after operating since 1946, and most of its workers are represented by United Steelworkers Local 277. No separate date has been published for Bayport, and the filing only says the overall plan should be substantially complete by the end of 2027. Goodyear's public statement says the company decided to fully exit chemicals to focus on its core products and services, and that it will support the affected employees. That statement refers to the Texas site as Pasadena, while the regulatory filing uses the name Bayport.

The probable reasons go beyond the official explanation. First, the closures finish the Goodyear Forward transformation plan, under which the company already sold its off-the-road tire business to Yokohama Rubber, the Dunlop brand to Sumitomo Rubber and most of its chemicals to Gemspring. A tire maker with no other chemical sites has little reason to keep two small plants that serve mainly as internal suppliers. Second, the two sites depend on each other, since Bayport feeds Niagara Falls, so closing one weakens the case for keeping the other. Third, the expected savings of $15 million to $20 million a year point to a clear cost benefit.

A fourth factor is the pressure on the Niagara Falls plant over air emissions. Investigations published in 2024 found that the plant had released ortho-toluidine, a chemical linked to bladder cancer, at levels above what New York now considers safe. The state issued a notice of violation in 2023, and modeling released in December 2024 showed levels in some nearby neighborhoods up to seven times the state guideline. In January 2025, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation ordered Goodyear to fix the emissions and pay a penalty, with permanent pollution controls due by October 31, 2026. That is the same date now reported for the shutdown. Goodyear has not linked the closure to these issues and has said before that it met the requirements of its air permit, which was based on the state's earlier limit.

The probable supply chain impact is limited but real. Rubber and tire makers that bought these additives from Goodyear will need other sources. Antioxidants and antiozonants are used in small amounts, yet they are essential, and switching suppliers usually means testing and approving the new material in each rubber compound, which can take months. The long wind-down should give buyers time, and other producers in North America, Europe and Asia sell similar additives. As of October 7, 2026, no shortage or customer disruption has been reported.

For Goodyear itself, buying additives on the open market in place of in-house production adds supplier dependence and procurement work, and it may raise the share of imports in its supply. Hydroquinone and DIPB also serve buyers outside the rubber industry, who may need to find new suppliers. The effect on acetone is likely small because the volumes are modest compared with the wider acetone market. In the regions, the Gulf Coast and western New York lose skilled industrial jobs, while decommissioning work will continue through 2027.