Seven years ago 300 jobs were lost when the Wausau paper plant in Groveton closed. But now a Marlborough, Mass. company says it plans to open a new liquified natural gas plant at the site.
The new plant will cost about $100 million, says Evan Coleman, an official with Clear Energy, the developer.
“We take natural gas out of a pipeline, we cool it down to about negative 260 degrees which transforms the gas into a liquid and then we truck that product out to utility, industrial and transportation users within New England.”
The natural gas will come from a pipeline that already runs near the plant.
Coleman says the plant will pay about $1.7 million a year in property and create jobs.
“The plant in Groveton will have about 40 personnel at the plant as well as a little over 40 jobs on the trucking side of things that have to be based in Groveton.”
Coleman says the financing is lined up and once the plant opens it will be owned by another company, which he declined to identify.
If the projects gets the necessary permits Coleman said he hopes to break ground this spring and open in 2015.
There have been several other efforts to find businesses for the facility, none of which succeeded.