A Sanford-based engineering firm from the Maine Nationwide Guard will journey to East Millinocket early subsequent month to conduct demolition work as a part of the city’s ongoing effort to repurpose its former paper mill website for brand spanking new tenants.
A platoon from the 262nd Engineering Firm of the Maine Nationwide Guard will probably be in East Millinocket from Aug. 1-10 to take away the remaining cement fireplace suppression towers that overlook the woodyard on the former Nice Northern Paper Co. mill, in response to Mike Michaud, the chair of the East Millinocket Choose Board.
Earlier house owners had demolished components of the mill website earlier than the city purchased it in July 2020, however the mill’s fireplace suppression towers remained, Michaud mentioned. There are additionally a handful of unused buildings on the mill website which can be nonetheless privately owned, he mentioned.
The guard members will even carry out upkeep work across the mill’s stormwater draining areas as a part of a federal protection program that trains troopers in areas like building, transportation and well being care, in response to Maj. Carl Lamb, a spokesperson for the Maine Nationwide Guard.
“Maine has lengthy relied on this program and these tasks as a method for our items to each practice on the mission-essential duties required for our federal wartime mission, whereas on the similar time enhancing and contributing to the communities by which we reside and work,” Lamb mentioned.
East Millinocket has sought to draw new tenants to the previous paper mill since buying the location in July 2020 and has made some progress. The mill closed for good in 2014, main tons of of space residents to lose their jobs and depriving the city of its largest industrial taxpayer.
Portland startup Normal Biocarbon initially signed a lease in February 2021 to open a manufacturing facility on the previous website that may produce biochar, a fertilizer different, from wooden chips via a course of known as pyrolysis. However the firm paused these plans to develop a plant in Enfield, Maine Public reported earlier this month.
One other firm, Logistics Administration Programs, leases the mill’s warehouse to retailer paper and lumber.
One firm, Ottawa-based Ensyn Fuels Inc., is within the means of establishing store there, whereas two others are exploring the potential for opening companies on the location, Michaud mentioned.
Ensyn is working with the Maine Division of Environmental Safety and the U.S. Environmental Safety Company to open a manufacturing facility on the previous mill website that may convert biomass, like wooden chips, into renewable heating oil utilizing thermal expertise.
Bit Intelligence is subleasing from E-Rail-Z, a mill website tenant, to discover the potential for opening a knowledge heart, and is making ready to use for a planning board allow, Michaud mentioned.
And Convalt Vitality is seeking to reopen the mill website’s former biomass and steam plant buildings, which the city doesn’t personal, Michaud mentioned. The New York-based agency introduced in February that it will definitely hoped to open a $5 billion era and transmission plant in East Millinocket.
For now, the city plans to welcome the Nationwide Guardsmen with a barbeque and group lunches, Michaud mentioned.
“The whole lot is full steam forward,” he mentioned. “We’re simply glad issues are moving into the fitting path.”
