Bonnie Neely made the original motion to have the BOS endorse Freshwater Pulp's business concept and will send forth support letters to public agencies and political legislators to move forward with permits and loans necessary to make this deal happen. Freshwater President Bob Simpson flagged many concerns, applauds and questions by the Supes. The BOS voted unanimously for the motion. Even PLAZOID Tad spoke in favor of the presentation.
What a weekend meeting with Congressman Mike Thompson that must of been! EPIC, Baykeepers, The Sierra Club, Labor leaders and the National AWPPW Vice President Greg Pallesen all together Saturday moving in the same direction and coming to a consensus! (Sounds like the AWPPW is going to help on the political and financial prep side. Might even venture into ESOP. Hmm. Where have I heard of that process?)
This is kind of stunning that there was so much collaboration of this magnitude. Of course, much of this vision is predicated on a Government backed loan. There was also a mention of a possible "Green" Initial Public Offering (IPO), where the company would raise money selling common stock.
So the plan is to start the mill as a Totally Chlorine Free (TCF) pulp and toilet paper facility with a main distribution center for the environmentally safe toilet tissue products. 450 local "union" jobs paying an average of $70,000 (Mr. Simpson's estimate) a year. And thousands indirectly created locally. Mr. Simpson sees this as finishing his vision that he had when he converted the plant over to TCF when he was the Western Division GM for Louisiana Pacific. And doing all this using good Forestry practices, using only chips made from Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) approved (Certified) logging practices.
Freshwater Pulp's vision is to be a regional producer of essential products for eco-minded consumers.
Freshwater Pulp's mission is to manufacture dioxin-free tissue products made from FSC certified wood fiber from the coastal redwood forest.
Quick Takes:
The mill is worth around 3.5 in scrap metal.
The mill has a $600,000,000 replacement value.
Freshwater Pulp projects $360,000,000 in annual sales.
Freshwater plans to pay $36,000,000 in Marketing and Advertising.
When a log hits the sawmill, 50% of the log becomes Lumber 35% pulpable chips. The rest waste wood to be used as Flakeboard or biofuel.
There was much more discussion that I may have missed. This is just a skimmed version of my notes. It might be too late for this worker to be a part of this, but I hope for my younger co-workers that this process is put on the fast track!
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11 comments:
Richard,
I would suggest that all interested pulp mill employees contact Mike Thompson and thank him for his support of Freshwater. Also need to contact the BOS as well.
You guys are fortunate to have Mike as your local politician. If anyone could pursue those Fed funds for the mill's future, Mike could.
Also, it appears that Mr. Simpson is really serious as well, about getting the mill up and running again.
What was he like to work for, when it was LP?
Just for the record... Pete Nichols from Baykeeper was on the news tonight supporting Simpson's vision.
http://mikethompson.house.gov/
It is easy to contact Mike Thompson by following the link above.
We all need to express ourselves about this very important matter.
What difference does the annual sales make? GM has 20x the annual sales this mill could ever hope to achieve yet is bankrupt. Also, what difference does the replacement value make if they got it for free? That makes the real value about zero. I think that the only number that matters there is the scrap value, which is what they will get in my opinion.
I hope that this bill of goods is better than the one the union bought to remove their leins. Did Simpson address the plight of the workers and their medical? Did he come up with a timeline for paying back that money he agreed to? Nope, I thought not.
The main goal is to get this local economy going. This would be a good start. And the plant is "shovel ready."
Toilette paper Richard? It was like you were meant to make it!
And Anon will be the one needed it with all the stinky crap he puts on here
What target date is Simpson using?
Two years out?
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