Brownfields
Success Story
EPA Grant Recipient:
Old Town, Maine
Grant Type:
Assessment
Current Use:
ND Paper/Nine Dragons - Paper Mill
Former Use:
MFGR Paper Mill
ND Paper/Nine Dragons
Old Town, Maine
While the past few decades have seen the closing of many Maine lumber and
paper mills, the City of Old Town was able to keep its mill open through
significant investment in the 200-acre former MFGR Paper Mill. In 2018, ND
Paper purchased the site and restarted the 150-year-old pulp and paper mill
on the banks of the Penobscot River. ND re-opened the doors of the mill on
August 2019 and began manufacturing high quality unbleached pulp. Since
buying the mill, the company has invested more than $46 million for repairs
and improvements, hired more than 130 full time workers along with 300
contract workers, and begun planning for future expansion.
Once the largest supplier of lumber in the United States, the City of Old Town
was home to several industrial mills built along the Penobscot River in the
mid- to late 1800s. A sawmill began operation at the site in 1860, and the
Penobscot Chemical Fiber Company was established there in 1882. Since that
time, the mill has produced pulp and paper products, and expanded its
footprint to include a pulp mill, pulp driers, lime kiln, tissue mill, wood rooms,
atlas silos, water pump stations and warehouses, and a wastewater treatment
plant.
Between 2003 and 2015, the mill went through a series of layoffs and
shutdowns, with the final shutdown in 2015. When the mill shut down in
2015, not only were 350 workers left without a job, but the buildings and
remaining site were a contaminated blight on the downtown. Asbestos-clad
buildings began to deteriorate, petroleum and heavy metal-contaminated
soils remained, and the containers, tanks, and hazardous chemical left were a
threat to humans and the environment.
Priming the Property for Redevelopment
The City of Old Town, through its Brownfields assessment grant from EPA,
performed a detailed investigation to determine the extent of contamination and
what cleanup activities were needed. With help from local, state and federal
grants, the city developed environmental, brownfield, monetary, and marketing
campaigns, which attracted a buyer. This information was vital in marketing the
site to potential buyers, and ND Paper, an Illinois- based subsidiary of Nine
Dragons Paper (Holdings) Limited of China, has used this information to as a key
factor in its due diligence and purchase decision before redeveloping it.
Figure 2 - ND Paper Credits: Old Town, ME
SERA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
"Opportunity Zones: helping to bring
investment to distressed communities"
Figure 1 - ND Paper Credits: Old Town, ME

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EPA FUNDING
2016 - EPA Brownfields Assessment Grant - $175,000
Old Town used the Brownfields assessment grant funding to determine the
nature and extent of contamination at the property.
OTHER FUNDING:
2019- ND Paper/Nine Dragons private investment of about $46 million.
Figure 3 - ND Paper Credits: Old Town, ME
Today
ND Paper is currently ramping up production to its preliminary target of 425
metric tons of pulp per day, and planning to increase output even further in the
near future. They aim to be a global leader in environmentally sustainable pulp
and paper products and strive to make every aspect of their production, from
sourcing and manufacturing to distribution, environmentally friendly. ND Paper
is committed to environmental sustainability and advocates the reduce, reuse,
recycle model of economic development.
"The City of Old Town has benefited
greatly over the last 8 years because
of the on-going EPA Brownfields
Program. The combined efforts of
Maine DEP and EPA has allowed an
idled pulp mill site the opportunity to
have another chance. Without the
grants being available, the City would
not have been able to conduct the
Phase I and II Environmental Site
Assessments at the mill site. There
were 20 other potential sites in the
U.S. competing with the Old Town
site and the due diligence that
happened because of the EPA grants
assisted Nine Dragons in determining
this location as a site to resurrect.
This has brought 130 full time jobs
back into the community and
impacts the entire region for many
businesses associated with the paper
industry."
Bill Mayo, City Manager
Old Town, Maine
For more information:
Visit the EPA Brownfields website at
www.epa.gov/brownfields or contact
Jim Byrne at 617-918-1389 or
EPA 560-F-19-217
November 2019

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