Wednesday, May 06, 2009

Freshwater Pulp meets with Mike Thompson for Federal Stimulus help! Samoa Fire Fighting Suppression system at risk.

Freshwater Pulp spokesman Bob Simpson is going to give Congressman Mike Thompson a presentation on the Future of Evergreen Pulp with a business plan/vision this weekend. If you are past worker of the plant with hopes of returning to work there, you should call Mike's office and let them know you support Freshwater's plan. Just call 269-9595 and tell them to put you on record as supporting the future of the Pulp Mill. (Converting to a limited capacity Totally Chlorine Free pulp mill with toilet paper converting capacity.)

Since the Humboldt Bay Municipal Water District has shut water off to the mill, the water has been shut off to the industrial line that feeds the fire suppression lines from DG Power north to the Samoa Bridge. That has effectively shut down the town of Samoa's Fire suppression system. The 2 million gallon tank has water in it put has no pressure other than head pressure. If there is a structure fire call in this area someone needs to request Arcata's and Humboldt's water tenders to respond.

"Barry Van Sickle from the water district needs to be contacted as well by phone please put this number in your cell phone in case of emergency 499-2740 cell or 822-2918 work. He too should be called on dispatch however it is ultimately up to us to notify him that we need him to respond to open the water valves." I heard at the last Samoa Peninsula Fire Board meeting that there are people available 24 hours a day to open the line.

Now the question is, will the valves and water lines be able to be charged quickly without risk of bursting? I hope they do some trial runs. At Peninsula Union School there will be training in the near future on how to "draft" water out of the swimming pool there to fight a fire at the school.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

How can everyone just support tyheir plan sight unseen? Isn't blanket support for whatever they propose the same bad idea that got the union to pull their leins off of the mill, leaving the members unprotected for no good reason? Perhaps we should wait until the TRUE plan is presented.

Anonymous said...

I e-mailed Mike Thompson some time ago in support of Freshwater Pulp because I think the local economy needs help!

Anonymous said...

On TVlast night, Simpson said he wants the government to guarantee a $500 Million dollar loan to start up the mill and a paper plant somewhere else. Yep, its $500 Million.

Now its all poker playing, maybe he really needs $50 Million and wants to let some official negotiate him down. But its sounding like another pie in the sky scheme that will go no where.

Anonymous said...

Is it Groundhog Day?

Anonymous said...

Let's see if I've got this right. You want us to call our congressman to support a plan spending $500 Million of our tax dollars on a mill that's failed multiple times, only this time we'll have Bobby Simpson at the helm. It's time to turn in your 215 card. What's the plan? I won't call to support anything until I have more than $500 Million equals a toilet paper plant and Voila, business is booming.

Anonymous said...

If you missed the story, here it is

http://www.kiem-tv.com/

Present, past and future 4th District Supervisor Bonnie Neely speaks out about Freshwater Pulp as waste recycler.

Freshwater spokesman lays out plan to ask Congressman Thompson for $400,000,000 Federal Loan Guarantee. Kinda like this one:

http://www.twine.com/item/123zvmzpw-2sd/solar-startup-scores-535m-federal-loan-guarantee

3,000 jobs created on North Coast. 425 Directly at the plant. Plant becomes the "greenest" pulp and paper facility in North America.

$360,000,000 dollars of annual revenue locally created with project.

Will this project happen without Fedral money? Spokesman Quote, "Short of a Federal Loan Gaurantee, no."

Did you call your Congressman yet?

Anonymous said...

The news story is pretty light on details. Give us $400,000,000 in money and trust that it will be repaid? Don't get me wrong, I'd like to see the pulp mill open again as it's important to our economy, but this plan is going to need more specifics and PROOF of how it will work. I can think of many more places in the county that this amount of money would have a much greater impact than funding a business that has failed so many times in the past.

Anonymous said...

what is a waste recycler? How would we get enough waste here to make this thing a big employer again - 132,000 humboldtonians dont produce that much waste.

the way i see it is, its pulp or nothing.

Anonymous said...

What a joke. Let them sink or swim on their own, like any other business.

samoasoftball said...

Another tough crowd. I sure would like to hear what will be said this weekend, but was not invited. Too bad there hasn't been a meeting scheduled of laid off workers to see the proposal and make a decision whether to hang around, or find employment somewhere else.

jmc said...

Richard,

Think about the way that Bob used to run the place.

Think of the trust that has gone down the drain.

Think of how Bob has used others for profit.

Is that what you want?

Anonymous said...

"Think of how Bob has used others for profit.

Is that what you want?"

That is the American business model. Don't blame Bob for that.

Anonymous said...

That strange. I don't remember Simpson saying that he needed $500 million from the govt. when he promised it would reopen in a few months. This is just another opportunistic attempt to mollify people for a while. I believe, as do many others, that the end result will be a parting out and fire sale of the mill. He will be able to say that he did all he could and walk away much richer for the effort. My Goodness, he doesn't even have a discharge permit. That alone will take a couple of years minimum. He wants to keep using the outflow line with a new permit and some sort of emergency holding pond. Good luck.

Anonymous said...

The fact is that it is an old, outdated facility. It pollutes too much and produces an oversold product thus it is not profitable nor will it ever be. If it had a snowballs chance in hell of being a moneymaker someone with real money would have snapped it up. There was ZERO interest from investors, other than locals with ulterior motives, for a pulp mill that was essentially free.

Anonymous said...

I can't believe you guys would still be hanging around and not looking for employment somewhere else. It's time to move on and find another line of work.

pooper said...

"SHOW ME THE MONEY'" !!!!!