Story Archives of 'Paper Mills'

2007 was a year of victory for our primary and for same sex couples, a year of trouble for the state’s highway department and for the mill town of Groveton. It was a year when adequacy in public education was defined and Ed and Elaine Brown were captured. We look back at the biggest stories and forward to how they may play out in 2008.

Guests

• Bill Gardner, New Hampshire Secretary of State, speaking on the New Hampshire primary
• Bob Odell, Republican State Senator from Lempster who was on the conference committee that worked on school adequacy, speaking on defining an adequate education
• Murray Rogers, president of the USW Local 61 at the Wausau Paper Plant, speaking about the mill closing in Groveton
• Bill Boynton, public information officer for the New Hampshire Department of Transportation, speaking about the state of transportation in New Hampshire
• Vin Sylvia, managing editor of the Sunday Edition and Sports Section for the New Hampshire Union Leader and Sunday News, about New England sports teams
• Stephen Monier, United States Marshall for the District of New Hampshire, speaking about the standoff and capture of Ed and Elaine Brown
• Gail Morrison, an openly gay Democratic State Representative from Sanborton, speaking about the civil unions bill

A controversy is brewing over the last remaining piece of the former Fraser Paper Mill in Berlin.

A New York company wants to build a 65 million dollar biomass plant there, to take advantage of the still remaining boiler and smokestack.

But a group of residents oppose the plan, after seeing the benefits of having virtually no paper mill looming over their downtown.

New Hampshire Public Radio’s David Darman has more.

With the closing of the Wausau paper mill in Groveton expected at the end of the year, about 300 more jobs will be lost in the North Country.

State officials are looking at an unusual way to help out - moving state jobs north.

NHPR correspondent Chris Jensen has the story.

As another New Hampshire community braces itself for the closure of its paper mill, we look at lessons learned from elsewhere across the Northern Forest, in Vermont, Maine and upstate New York. We’ll see how different towns have responded – or are still struggling – with mill closures, and how their experiences might apply to Groveton.

Guest

• Steve Blackmer, founder and president of the Northern Forest Center

We'll also hear from

• Chris Jensen, NHPR correspondent covering the North Country
• John Richardson, Commissioner for the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development
• John Bartow, executive director of The Tug Hill Commission in Watertown, New York

The Wausau Paper Mill in Groveton will be closing down at the end of the year, leaving 303 employees out of work.