OLD TOWN, Maine - An official with the United Steelworkers says the union knows few details surrounding the sale of the Old Town pulp mill to a new limited liability corporation.
Expera Specialty Solutions acquired the mill a little over year ago, then announced in September that the facility would shut down at the end of 2015.
Duane Lugdon, with the steelworker's union, says he was surprised to learn Wednesday that Expera had gone ahead and sold the mill to a MFGR, LLC, which has ties to a Connecticut-based asset liquidation firm.
"Expera has been very, very secretive of this whole process," Lugdon says. "Their intent was to provide an ownership that would run the mill. But what they've done now, at this point it appears, is find ownership that intends to cut it up with a cutting torch instead."
In a press release, MFGR says little about its plans for the mill, but does note that it has received inquiries about the facility from aquaculturists, pulp manufacturers and other developers.