Time to do something I haven't done in over 30 years

Looks like the "Mill" isn't going to start back up any time soon (see article below)
So I'm gonna have to look for employment elsewhere.... I havent' had to look for/apply for a job in 32 years. This will be an experience.... Wish me luck!



Pulp mill start-up aims dim
John Driscoll and Thadeus Greenson /The Times-Standard
Posted: 03/14/2009 01:28:50 AM PDT

The Samoa pulp mill -- at least in its current state -- will not run again anytime in the near future.
Owner Freshwater Pulp said that it now believes that there are not enough wood chips, from which the mill makes pulp, available in the region to supply the plant. That's due to protracted poor market conditions for lumber and widespread sawmill curtailments.
”I've always said that by May 1 we would know whether there is an adequate chip supply,” said Freshwater Pulp's Bob Simpson. “Well, what I'm telling you today is we know there's not an adequate supply.”
Unless the lumber markets unexpectedly rebound and sawmills begin operating at high levels in 2009 or 2010, it's unlikely the mill will start up again, he said. In that case, Simpson said, the company would pursue plans to convert the facility to a pulp and fine-paper mill, which would produce toilet and tissue paper. But Simpson said that conversion would take two years and $400 million.
Still, Simpson insisted the facility would not die.
”We look at it much differently,” Simpson said. “We look at it as not a case of if the pulp mill will run again -- it's a case of when.”
Samoa Acquisition Corp. bought the mill from Evergreen Pulp in early February after the plant was shut down on Oct. 15. That put some 215 employees out of work. Samoa Acquisition, renamed later Freshwater Pulp, at the time expected to fire up the mill within 90 to
180 days. But Friday Simpson said a chip supply was uncertain.
Simpson said that Freshwater Pulp's payment of a $51,000 bill Evergreen owed to the North Coast Unified Air Quality Management District is evidence that it is committed to eventually restarting the operation.
Recently, workers have been heeding the recommendation of their union, the Association of Western Pulp and Paper Workers Local 49, to look for other work and take advantage of retraining. Some of those workers may have missed a deadline to state their interest in retraining, said Local 49 President Tom Reilly.
”They're realizing it's not going to restart, or that the hopes of it restarting are slim,” Reilly said.
Reilly questioned the feasibility of Simpson's plan to convert the facility to a pulp-and-paper plant, especially given the $400 million in financing Simpson is seeking. As for Reilly, he said he's been looking for work out of the area.
The mill would face other battles even if it had a reliable chip supply. It needs to negotiate another contract for water with the Humboldt Bay Municipal Water District and a permit for its effluent -- pumped into the ocean -- with the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board, which would include discussions with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The effects of eliminating the mill's contribution to the water district's costs would likely increase regional wholesale water costs 22 to 25 percent, as laid out in the district's Thursday meeting. That cost would be passed on to ratepayers. The district has been planning for a future without the mill.
Freshwater Pulp intends to plug its effluent line into the ocean while it works on plans to convert to a pulp-and-paper operation. Simpson said that Freshwater and neighboring DG Fairhaven Power are working on a valve system that will allow the power plant to get rid of its own waste water, which flows through the mill's effluent line.
One of the most immediate effects will undoubtedly be on the local economy with the possible elimination of many well-paying jobs at the mill. The aged workforce earned substantially more than the average for Humboldt County. Now many are looking for work elsewhere, including at another mill in Everett, Wash., said employee Richard Marks.
”I'm really disturbed for my fellow workers, and I've talked to enough of them who are not going to return,” Marks said. “I think we're going to lose a lot of people from the area.”