By Patrick Whittle, The Associated Press
PORTLAND, Maine - A federal judge has denied a labor union's attempt to block a shuttered Bucksport, Maine, paper mill to a Canadian scrap metal recycler.
U.S. District Court Chief Judge John Woodcock issued his decision in Bangor on Tuesday.
The union filed an antitrust lawsuit seeking to restrain Verso Paper Corp. from selling the mill to AIM Development LLC of Canada. Woodcock writes that the union did not offer substantial proof that the sale constitutes "a conspiracy to monopolize'' within the paper industry.
Three other firms say they are interested in purchasing the mill to reopen it. Woodcock writes that the court is willing to offer mediation if parties decided it would be helpful. The mill closed in December, laying off more than 500.