Red Shield takes over at G-P mill

November 16, 2006

The first group of worker returned to the former Georgia-Pacific mill in Old Town last Monday. Dan Bird, the vice president of the local paper worker’s union, was there to greet them in his new capacity as the head of human resources for Red Shield Environmental, LLC. Since the mill closed last March, Bird has also acted as a peer support worker for other laid-off mill employees at the Career Center in Bangor, Red Shield closed its purchase deal on the mill on Nov. 3 and is the first of four companies already involved in the transformation of the mill site into a state-of-the-art multi-manufacturer energy facility.

“We’re bringing in new people every day,” Ed Paslowski, spokesman for Red Shied, said. “It’s hard to process a lot of people in the first week.”

Paslowski says that his company’s decision to purchase the mill was the result of reluctance on the part of G-P to sell the facility to another paper company. After months of negotiations between G-P and several potential buyers, it was clear that no progress was being made. It was at that point, Paslowski says, that his company was approached by state economic development commissioner Jack Cashman for the purpose putting together a purchase package.

Plans are already in motion for the other three companies to set up operations on the site. Tamarack Energy, a renewable resource company, will operate the biomas boiler used by Red Shield. Lamtec, Int, a maker of pressure-sensitive labels is also scheduled to begin manufacturing on the site, as is Hallowell International, LLC, a low-temperature heat pump manufacturer. Other companies may soon follow as well, according to Paslowski.

 “We are currently negotiating a lease with a German company that manufactures wood pellets,” he said. “It’s a company that is very eager to get going, and may be operating in time for the next heating season, exporting the wood pellets manufactured on the site to Europe.”

When asked about his reaction to concerns voiced by Orono residents in regard to the restart of the biomass boiler that will be used by Red Shield, Paslowski says that both sides need to step back from the hot button issues.

“What people need to understand is that we are environmentalists, too,” he said. “We’re just approaching it in a different way. If you don’t burn the wood (used for the biomass boiler), you bury it in a landfill and it eventually becomes methane gas, which is twenty times more toxic than Co2.”

Paslowski adds that his company is heavily regulated by the DEP and the EPA, and that his company is well within the requirements set forth by both. In fact, he says, Red Shield may be burning paper sludge on the site as well, turning it into gas through a process called parolysis.

“People forget that they burn wood in their own backyards,” he said. “I understand that some people have concerns, but they’re misguided concerns. If places like Orono and Bangor don’t need manufacturing jobs, then, well, that’s fine. But not everyone can work at Wal-Mart.”

Paslowski says that he expects to see a great deal of progress at the site within the next six months, with the three major tenants in place and operational.  Red Shield is also looking into opening two more similar energy facilities, one in Maine and another in Canada.

“We’re very aware that this is a first of its kind facility,” he said. “We hope it gives ideas to other people.”