NY Times article on paper mill reopening in Newton Falls, NY

[Papa Bear]

There was a nice article in today's NY Times about a mill in Newton Falls, NY that closed in 2000 and recently reopened. It tells how several local ex-employees, with their own money, kept the mill in a maintained state (kept machines cleaned and oiled, etc.).

Here's the link: NY Times story

It's a good read and a nice ending to the story.

But - one thing not mentioned was the subject of air and/or water pollution from the mill, either before it closed, or now. I though it was a significant omission in the story. Are there any "experts" here who know anything about that side of the story?

 

[peakbagger]

Newton Falls was helped by several trends. The low value of the american dollar versus the canadian dollar. Essentially, the paper production flows to the lowest cost producer and paper is expensive to ship long distances. So Newton Falls suddenly has become competitive again. The market for paper is stable or shrinking so if Newton Falls is reopening, most likely equivalent production in Quebec is shutting down. As these older mills are typically low level hazardous waste sites, major companies are willing to sell at a loss to dump the liability into another company in hope that they dont have to clean the site up if it remains vacant.

Another factor is that when it closed, the owner did not "burn the bridges" by destroying the papermaking equipment or forcing it offshore. Most companies now require that the equipment be permanently destroyed so they dont end up competing against it later on. This happened at KC East Ryegate VT, and Sappi in the Augusta area of Maine. Fraser effectively did it in Berlin by selling the place to a scrapper. The Wausua mill in Groveton is being sold with a stipulation that paper can never be produced there.

A similiar success story occured in Lincoln Maine where a group bought the facility at bankruptcy and has turned it around. Red Shield in Old town is back in the market pulp business after a local firm bought the plant minus the machines. Dirigo in VT tried hard for a couple of years at the Gilman VT mill but ran out of cash.

As for emmisions, they most likely were allowed to start up with their prior grandfathered limits rather than new source permit which would be much more strict. I would expect that the turbidity in the river downstream of the outfalls would go down and SO2 and Nox would increase in the downstream exhaust plume.