Red Shield

December 7, 2006
By Greta Sproul

 A total of 55 employees have returned to jobs at the former Georgia-Pacific mill in Old Town and at least one more was expected to come back this week, according to Dan Bird, human resource director for the New Hampshire-based company.

“This is an exciting time for Old Town,” Bird said. “We’re picking up the pieces here and the potential is great.”

G-P closed the mill for good last March, putting over 400 employees out of work and impacting 40 towns. Red Shield Environmental, LLC purchased the facility after months of negotiations among G-P, the State, and a succession of potential buyers, none of which were ever officially named. Following the breakdown of negotiations with the final potential buyer last fall, believed by most to be Cascade, Inc, a paper company out of Canada) the State assumed ownership of the mill. Red Shield signed a purchase agreement with the State in early November and began operations at the facility on Nov. 25.

Some local residents, including members of We The People, have voiced concerns over the restart of the biomass boiler used to maintain operations at the mill. Their concerns about the boiler, which was also used by G-P, led to a public meeting in Orono last month, at which DEP Commissioner David Littell addressed several issues, including air emission standards. Littell stated that G-P had never taken the necessary steps to control combustion from the boiler, but that since signing its purchase agreement, Red Shield had submitted a plan that would lower the levels of carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxide formerly produced by the boiler.

Opponents of restarting the boiler have also stated their concerns that “waste wood” from construction and demolition sites would be used, causing chemicals to be released into the air through the smoke. But Bird says that since its restart a little over a week ago, only green wood chips have been fed to the boiler.

“The photographer from the BDN was here to take a picture of the mill,” he said, ‘and she almost couldn’t see the smoke coming out of the stacks. I had to point it out to her. That’s how clean and white it is.”

Bird said that the biomass boiler is comparable to a “large woodstove,” with lots of technology that has made the output cleaner than any coming from “all other woodstoves and oil-fired appliances.” Not only that, he added, but single point sources, such as the boiler, are responsible for 2 percent of all CO emissions in the state, with the remaining 80 percent coming from individually-owned woodstoves and oil furnaces.

            “Ultimately, if electricity was cheaper, it would be the best and cleanest form of energy,” he said. “But do (opponents) want us to eliminate every woodstove in the state?”

Three other companies are scheduled to join Red Shield in the redevelopment of the one-time mill as an “energy facility.” One, Tamarack Energy, a renewable energy developer, will be responsible for the operation of the boiler. Lamtec, Inc., a maker of pressure-sensitive labels, and Hallowell International, LLC, a manufacturer of low-temperature heat pumps, have also signed on. A German manufacturer of wood pellets may also be setting up shop in the facility.

            “Red Shield has a strong desire to be local as much as possible,” Bird said. “G-P used a lot of out-of-state vendors, but we’re making a deliberate effort to keep the vending services in Old Town, and if not in Old Town, then in the surrounding areas, and if not there, then in the county, and if not there, then in the state.”

            Bird is also confident that, eventually, the new owners of the mill will be responsible for bringing back a workforce even larger than the one employed by G-P.

            Red Shield’s acquisition and redevelopment of the former G-P mill is the result of some pro-active help from Old Town itself. In order to facilitate Red Shield’s ability to take over operations at the site, the City agreed to lend the company $230,000 tax free for one year. Red Shield’s first payment of $118,000 is due in August and will follow the company’s first Business and Equipment Tax Reimbursement from the state.

As an additional part of the deal, the City of Old Town will buy the former Erland Sleight School, also known as the onetime “G-P training center”, from Red Shield for $30,000. The building is being considered as a possible relocation site for the city hall, which is currently housed in a series of second floor offices above the Bangor Savings Bank on Main Street.

However, there are a few stipulations regarding the planned transaction between Red Shield and Old Town. The first is that city officials want Red Shield’s assurance that the company will pay the taxes owed on the property (estimated to be about $559,000), and that G-P will pay the $250,000 in taxes on “personal equipment” that it has already begun removing from the former mill. City officials have said that they have no reason to believe the taxes will not be paid in full.