Fraser Papers of Connecticut has agreed to buy the idle pulp and paper mills in Berlin and Gorham for 31 point 5 million dollars. The news has lifted spirits across the state. NHPR?s David Darman has more.
New Hampshire officials were pleased to announce that Fraser papers had stepped forward to make the winning bid for the mills in Berlin and Gorham. Governor Jeanne Shaheen praised the company for its efforts in keeping the mills operating during the winter, and said she was pleased Fraser would be their next owner.
08 34 today we?ve taken a significant step forward in getting the mills in berlin and Gorham operating again. That?s very good news for those people who live in those communities, for those people who have been laid off, and the state of nh.
Fraser is buying the mills eight months after American Tissue closed them, and filed for bankruptcy. Fraser made the only winning bid, since the bid of Cascades, Incorporated was disqualified before the bidding.
Fraser is owned by Nexfor, of Canada, and also partly owned by Brascan of Toronto. Brascan senior vice-president Richard Legault says the companies are looking forward to running the mills, and putting people back to work.
17 11 our plan is really to restart the paper machines as soon as possible, understanding that we have to have the ability to go into the mill and start to sort of assess exactly what is required to do that. 17 24
Unemployed workers in and around Berlin and Gorham are eager to return to the mills. More than 800 people lost their jobs when the plants closed last summer, and labor leaders say times have been tough for several months. Eddie DeBlois is president of the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers International Union, or PACE union local 75. DeBlois says he?s relieved
that Fraser will likely be taking over the mills, because he?s been impressed with the company so far.
28 52 we have met with frazier on numerous occasions. We did successfully negotiate a labor agreement with them, which I feel was a fair agreement. We know what their plans are. They?re ready to get the mill up and running. So, we know what we?re getting with frazier, and we like that 28 110
Officials of Berlin and Gorham are also pleased with what they?ve heard from Fraser. Both communities were left millions of dollars short of expected budgets over the last 2 years by American Tissue. That?s because American Tissue stopped paying local taxes long before the company declared bankruptcy.
Berlin mayor Bob Danderson says those missing payments caused the city to significantly cut back expenses. But Danderson says Fraser has already agreed what to pay Berlin for future and back taxes, so the difficult days that have plagued the city should soon come to an end.
38 05 right now, the unemployment rate in berlin is 12.9%. that should be decreasing dramatically in the very near future. It should be affecting everyone. Anyone from grocery stores to a lot of other industries who weren?t making the monies that they had in the past. It will be a much better financial time. 38 33
Berlin, Gorham and returning mill workers will not be the only beneficiaries of re-opened mills. The facilities process over one million tons of low grade wood when they are running. Many loggers, truckers and foresters rely on the mill to buy the pieces of twigs, knarled branches and diseased wood that they harvest as part of tending the forest. Jason Stock, executive director of the New Hampshire Timberlands Association, says the mill closing has caused many loggers to lay off workers and shut down equipment. But Stock says Fraser?s impending takeover of the mills could save the industry from further contraction.
25 43... We still have that critical mass and ? I?m confident it will bounce back and we?ll see the logging crews start to swell back to the numbers where they should be and we?ll start to see more stumpage come on the market. 25 106
Just about everyone connected to the wood products industry is pleased to hear that the Berlin and Gorham mills could reopen. But no one is ready to celebrate too loudly just yet. Fraser?s offer to buy the mills must first be approved by a bankruptcy judge in Chicago, in just a few days.
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