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Sappi Paper Announces Cutbacks At Westbrook Mill

Sappi paper has announced that it's permanently shutting down a paper machine at its mill in Westbrook, as well as major components of the Westbrook mill's energy complex. The company says this will result in the layoff of 75 employees, and the work will be shifted to mills in Showhegan and Minnesota.Dana Doran, executive director of the Professional Logging Contractors of Maine, says the announcement represents another blow to the state's logging industry, as Sappi's Westbrook facility is one of only two in that region that can take the type of debris that is generated as part of logging operations.

“Without it, it impacts, obviously, up to one hundred logging and trucking jobs, it represents about 3,000 truck loads of wood per year, about $7.5 million of direct economic impact.”

In a press statement, Gov. Janet Mills says the state is ready to help those being laid off by providing unemployment insurance, job training and other assistance.

Ed is a Maine native who spent his early childhood in Livermore Falls before moving to Farmington. He graduated from Mount Blue High School in 1970 before going to the University of Maine at Orono where he received his BA in speech in 1974 with a broadcast concentration. It was during that time that he first became involved with public broadcasting. He served as an intern for what was then called MPBN TV and also did volunteer work for MPBN Radio.