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Meriturn’s decision to end negotiations. The company also had sought a biomass cogeneration facility at the Millinocket mill, contracts with the mills’ labor unions and relief from any liability associated with an old mill dump in the Dolby section of East Millinocket.
Asked how he was feeling about the mills after meeting with the governor, Conlogue replied simply: “Guarded.”
“When you have a buyer who has canceled out on a deal, it is a little bit disconcerting,” he said. “But we’ll get through it. We’ll figure it out.”
During Monday’s meeting, LePage reportedly pledged to talk with the mills’ current owner, Brookfield Renewable Power Inc., about a possible extension of its original April 22 deadline for closing the East Millinocket mill as the state renews discussions with other potential buyers.
Given the concessions offered, Scally wondered why Meriturn didn’t buy the mills and speculated that the San Francisco firm was merely a stalking horse for other buyers. “Why,” he said, “would Brookfield even entertain these people?”
“Now,” Scally said, “that Hansen has done all the dirty work and gotten from us all these concessions, maybe some other people will come back and see what kind of a deal they can get from us, which was probably the plan all along.”
Meriturn had set an April 29 deadline to complete the sale. Katahdin Paper Co. had hoped to restart the idled East Millinocket mill Tuesday, but that plan fell apart when negotiations with Meriturn collapsed, leaving roughly 450 jobs in limbo.
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