Port Townsend Paper Mill Acquired by Atlas Holdings

Posted on October 12, 2022 by Al Bergstein

The parent company of Port Townsend Paper Mill, Crown Paper, has been acquired by a holding company out of Greenwich, Connecticut named Atlas Corporation. Atlas is a holding company that owns many natural resource companies, including recent acquisition of Foster Farms chicken processing. They also own and operate a diversified group of manufacturing and distribution businesses around the world. Many of these businesses are paper mills and many more operate in related industries, such as packaging, printing, and receipts and labels.

With Crown, Atlas now owns and operates 26 manufacturing and distribution businesses with approximately 50,000 associates across more than 300 global locations. While Atlas was founded in 2002, many of their companies have been in business for more than 100 years and are pillars of their local communities.

From their press release:

“Atlas has a long and established track record of investing in the pulp, paper and packaging industries, partnering with exceptional leadership teams to revitalize and strengthen companies for the long term. We’ve invested significant resources and partnered with companies at an inflection point in their journey, and we view Crown as another opportunity to put this experience to work. Today, these companies, including Finch Paper, Iconex, Marcal, Millar Western Forest Products and Twin Rivers Paper Company, are leaders in their markets,” added Atlas Partner Sam Astor.

“Atlas has owned and operated businesses that have similar operations and footprints as Crown, including paper mills, packaging manufacturers and wood products leaders with operations in the U.S. and Canada. In each case, these companies have been strong economic engines in their local economies. As such, we bring a unique set of capabilities and relevant experience to our partnership with Randy and the Crown Team,” said Janet O’Neil, Senior Vice President at Atlas Holdings.

Atlas also announced the appointment of paper and packaging industry executive Randy Nebel as Chairman of the Crown Board of Directors. Nebel has extensive experience in the sector, having previously served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Verso Corporation (NYSE: VRS), a leading North American producer of graphic, specialty and packaging paper and market pulp, and President of Longview Paper & Packaging, a leading manufacturer of high-quality containerboard, corrugated products and other specialty papers.

Port Townsend Paper Corporation is a leading provider of high-quality recycled and virgin kraft containerboard, kraft pulp and specialty products in Port Townsend, Washington. The two converting facilities, known as Crown Packaging and Boxmaster, operate with extensive customer reach and distribution capabilities throughout British Columbia and Alberta. 

Filed under: Jefferson County, Port Townsend | Tagged: | 1 Comment »

PT City Council Approves Water Contract Update

Posted on December 9, 2021 by Al Bergstein

An update based on the Sierra Club’s Peter Guerrero’s take on this. And also my thoughts at the end.

On Monday, the City Council voted unanimously to approve the new water agreement that includes raises in the cost of water to city residents, along with a new contract with the PT Paper Mill and improvements to the pipeline infrastructure. The agreement incorporates the Sierra Club’s recommendations for charging the mill for water used ($4.5 million/year) and for increasing these charges, over time, to encourage conservation. Unfortunately, the agreement establishes the current mill water usage of 11MGD/day as the baseline without seeking any reductions, resulting in the mill continuing to account for over 91% of all water consumed from the Quilcene watershed.

Both the mill and the city got what they wanted: The mill was assured of being able to continue using up to 11MGD while the city was able to put together a “partnership” that avoided having to go to the bond market and that was of a sufficient duration (20 years), avoiding draconian residential rate increases. It was more important for the city to get the mill to offset the steep capital costs of the Olympic Ground Water System (OGWS) than to achieve the kind of conservation gains the Sierra Club and other environmental activists would have liked to see.


Unfortunately, it is likely to be an unstable agreement given the past economic history of the mill and its aging infrastructure. Both suggest the mill may not be around for the full 20-year term of the agreement, leaving the city having to pay tens of millions for infrastructure improvements anyway. Knowing this, the city also voted last night to unanimously to create an industrial water rate, allowing it to sell water to another entity (industrial, PUD, etc.) if needed.


The next debate will be over increases to residential rates required by the agreement. Residential ratepayers have already expressed concern that they are “paying” for the mill’s excessive water use. Unfortunately the city doesn’t see a viable alternative at this time.


Environmentalists will have a second opportunity come 2025-2029 when the USFS will be reconsidering the city’s special use permit allowing it to withdraw water from the Quilcene Watershed.

I would also like to add that one thing I learned by listening to the discussion and reading the agreement is that we are extremely vulnerable to the impending climate changes that are unfolding around us. One issue that was mentioned was that the city looked into substituting well water for the water coming from the mountains and found that there is not nearly enough to supply our needs, let alone the mill. My personal take on the agreement is that it could have been set to a 10 year renewal, given the changing climate. It was also odd that there is no mention of the impact of our taking of significant water from the rivers, given the efforts to restore salmon in those streams. It certainly was never considered in the original setup of the water system.

It also brings up the issue of growth of the city. As new housing developments continue at the roundabout on Discovery Road and also on Cook Avenue there will be a need for more water for the city. The mill is guaranteed 11 MGD. But if the city increases water use, there is more revenue for the OGWS. This is a perverse reversal of conservation, the built reward to grow the city’s water use by greater development in order to lower water costs for all. But the caveat is that if there’s drought conditions and the water is not at the level needed, and does not replenish the holding lakes, we could be in for greater conservation and higher rates.

The water is stored in two holding lakes and we usually end up shifting to drawing from them exclusively by mid summer. As the planet warms and the snow packs become lessened, we will be drawing on those lakes sooner and sooner in the year. That day is coming in the next two to five years, once those large scale developments are built out. That was not discussed by the City Council. Not even a question on it, unless I missed it.

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Filed under: Environmental Law, Government, Olympic Peninsula, Port Townsend | Tagged: , , , | 4 Comments »

Life and Death in a Maine Mill Town

Posted on September 5, 2020 by Al Bergstein

A powerful story that resonates here in our world of paper mills.

Yet it’s almost impossible to draw a straight line from our mill to cancer. Someone leaves town. They get cancer. Some people never leave. They get cancer. Or vice versa. My grandmother smoked.. She didn’t get cancer. You work in a paper mill like my father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, you get cancer. Some people do not. At least not yet. There are long delays between environmental exposures and cancer, too long to calculate, and each cancer comes with individual risk factors, symptoms, causes. If you think your town contains a cancer cluster, consider the criteria: clusters require a greater-than-expected number of cancers in a narrowly defined group, i.e., the people must have the same type of cancer, in a limited geographic area, over a limited period of time, and all these factors have factors, including the limitations of science itself. In addition, if several family members get cancer, it doesn’t count toward the cluster evidence you need. Ordinary cancers don’t count either. And it doesn’t appear the CDC analyzes how individual bodies respond to specific environmental factors. And even if a cancer cluster is found in your neighborhood, they may not be able to determine the exact cause or do anything about it. One in three people develop cancer over their lifetime, so maybe the question is, when will we get cancer?

Kerri Arsenault on Life and Death in a Maine Mill Town

Filed under: Environmental Science | Tagged: , , , | 2 Comments »

Port Townsend mill fined $30,000 for air pollution – WA Department of Ecology

Posted on April 20, 2017 by Al Bergstein

Washington Department of Ecology – NEWS

April 20, 2017

Contact:

Andrew Wineke, communications, 360-407-6149, @ecologyWA

Corrosion led to leak in duct; stuck damper allowed second release

PORT TOWNSEND – The Port Townsend Paper Corporation has been fined $30,000 by the Washington Department of Ecology for two incidents in 2016 that led to emissions from the plant bypassing its control systems.

The first release happened in August after corrosion created a 1-inch hole in a duct at the plant, allowing small-particle pollution and other emissions to escape. The leak represented less than 1 percent of the plant’s emissions, and an assessment by an Ecology toxicologist indicated it did not pose a threat to human health. Because of the difficulty in reaching and repairing the leak, it was not fixed until the plant shut down for scheduled maintenance in September.

The second release occurred in November, when a damper in one of the plant’s main exhaust stacks became stuck, allowing some of the emissions to escape. Routine testing revealed the issue, and the plant corrected the problem after receiving the results.

“Proper maintenance and oversight of emissions equipment is an essential part of operating a pulp and paper mill,” said James DeMay, manager of Ecology’s Industrial Section, which regulates the plant. “Port Townsend Paper has made improvements to its procedures that should help to prevent similar problems in the future.”

The company may appeal Ecology’s penalty within 30 days to state’s Pollution Control Hearings Board.

“These issues were corrected in a timely manner and we have made the necessary improvements to prevent a reoccurrence,” said Mike Craft, mill manager at Port Townsend Paper. “We appreciate Ecology’s cooperation and acknowledgment that the release did not pose a threat to human health.”

 

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Lack of water could temporarily shut down Port Townsend Paper Corp. mill – PDN

Posted on July 20, 2015 by Al Bergstein

Charlie Berman reports on the ongoing discussions between the city of Port Townsend and the PT Paper Mill Corp. As stated in the article, it appears that the City is using approx. 2 Million gallons a day (previous estimates I’ve read placed it at 1 M gallons but perhaps this is based on older information). The mill uses approx 8 Million gallons a day currently,and even in temporary shutdown could still use a significant amount. Read the whole story and support local journalism by subscribing to the Peninsula Daily News.

http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/article/20150720/NEWS/307209975/lack-of-water-could-temporarily-shut-down-port-townsend-paper-corp

Filed under: Puget Sound | Tagged: , , , , , | 1 Comment »

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