Red Shield reopens again
The former Georgia Pacific mill in Old Town that closed in 2006 and again in 2008 under the Red Shield Environmental banner, is reopening once again.
Gov. John Baldacci announced today that the former Red Shield Acquisition operation, now known as Old Town Fuel & Fiber, will restart its pulp facility to produce wood-based biofuels. The restart is expected to put 90 workers back on the job with a total of 170 workers being employed in coming weeks, according to a release from the governor's office.
"A core component of the Old Town Fuel & Fiber operation is using technology developed at the University of Maine to create biofuels, creating renewable energy resources from our forest products," said Baldacci in the release. "The company's leadership will serve as a model to others, represent the ingenuity of Mainers and demonstrate that the forest products industry will continue to prosper and thrive in our state."
A group of investors purchased the defunct pulp mill in November 2006, eight months after Georgia Pacific closed it down. The new owners announced in the summer of 2007 that they intended to invest $100 million in capital investments, but a year filed for bankruptcy and shut down the operation citing pulp and fuel costs.
In September of 2008, the operation was sold at auction to investment group Patriarch Partners of New York City for $18.9 million. Patriarch intended to rehire workers, but a plummeting pulp market in December put a hold on the restart.
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