Worthington Mackenzie Mill Cold Shut Continues

Tuesday, July 21, 2009 04:03 AM

Prince George, B.C. - It will be some time yet before the Worthington Mackenzie mill is closed but the Provincial Ministry of the Environment and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans are keeping a very close watch on how the chemicals are being dealt with.

The Province has been responsible for the mill since last winter when there was a leak of chlorine dioxide. Since that time, a skeleton crew has been kept working to ensure there were no further incidents that could pose any possible threat to the people in the community or to the environment.

Minister of Forests and Range, Pat Bell, says there are four chemicals which are being dealt with, green liquor, white liquor, black liquor and chlorine dioxide. “Over the past several months we have looked at all possible options to deal with these chemicals” says Bell who says a plan is now in place.

“I believe there is a tentative agreement with a mill for the green and white liquor. There is now work being done on how they can be delivered safely. We are developing protocols for the safe handling and transportation of the materials.” Minister Bell says while it is not unheard of for green and white liquor to be shipped, the materials are dangerous and safety has to be the number one concern.

The black liquor will be treated at the current treatment ponds on the mill site, and once that has been done, the chlorine dioxide will be slowly released into the ponds until the ponds have the same level as a swimming pool. “The Ministry of the Environment and the Department of Fisheries are watching the treatment of the black liquor and chlorine dioxide very closely” says Minister Bell.

All stakeholders are committed to attending weekly meetings to ensure the work is being done in such a manner as to not have any impacts on the community or the environment. The intent is to have the chemicals offsite by late October at which time it is expected the Province will cease to be responsible for the mill.

There has been some concern that the owner, Dan White of Worthington Properties in Edmonton, will simply wait for the Province to cover the costs of the cold shut then dismantle the mill and sell it piece by piece. Minister Bell says the Province has liens against the property and any efforts to sell the mill in whole or in part, of if there is an effort to sell any of the rolling stock on site would see those funds go to the Province before they would go to Mr. White. The District of Mackenzie is also owed money for taxes. The District has written off $1 million of the $4 million owed to it by Worthington Properties.

The Province has spent between $4 and $5 million dollars keeping the mill in a safe mode. Once the mill is closed, there will be a need to have security on site, but it isn’t known if Worthington Properties will take on that responsibility.

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Posted on Tuesday, July 21, 2009 04:03 AM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: Eagleone on July 21 2009 6:22 AM

Why doesn't the town of Mackenzie just buy the mill? The taxes owing could be the down payment with the province financing its share owed to the province and the employees buying in to make it a viable operation... it was after all a profitable operation before it was driven to closure by the company for reasons wholly unrelated to its actual operations.

It makes no sense to me why they are so timid about that kind of take over up there. The pulp mill was the corner stone of their community and without it they are twisting in the wind. Its a complete lack of leadership IMO.

Posted by: RUEZ on July 21 2009 8:38 AM

How is this still the Worthington mill? I think his ownership should be forfeited.

Posted by: MacOldtimer on July 21 2009 8:50 AM

Why is Worthington not being taken to court to be accountable for what is happening with the Mackenzie Mill? This is abandiment is it not?? In the case of the horses in McBride the owner was charged.. so should Dan White.. he should have no rights to the mill what so ever. IMO..

Posted by: MacOldtimer on July 21 2009 8:51 AM

whoops posted that twice..

Posted by: Mercenary on July 21 2009 9:45 AM

Eagle: Its a matter of money. No one up here has the kind of capital it would take to buy the mill, start it, and keep it running as a viable operation.

The only way I could see anyone here in town being able to buy the place is to be heavily subsidized by the government, and we all know how popular that move would be.

Posted by: The Real Moses on July 21 2009 9:15 PM

Eagleone: I think you make a good point. The people of Mackenzie should own the mill. I'm sure it's not as simple as you propose, but there certainly should be a way to make something work.

Worthington bought for what? 6.5 million? They are already on the hook for more than that when you consider what they owe the city in taxes and the province in wages and maintenance costs that the province is covering. The City of Mackenzie, and the Province should temporarily take over the mill, and work out a plan to sell it back to a coop of employees and local Mackenzie investors over a reasonable period of time. Is that socialism? Maybe, but sometimes you need a little socialism to make capitalism work properly, you know, where everyone has the opportunity to succeed. Capitalism is supposed to reward the wise entrepreneur and allow the foolish to suffer the consequences for their own actions. However, we often see the rich guy bail out, leaving his workers out of luck.

Posted by: Eagleone on July 22 2009 3:12 AM

I agree Moses. I don't like socialism either as I prefer free enterprise, but the facts are most of what we call capitalism today is in fact corporate socialism for the rich at the expense of the people that make it all happen. I have no problem with the government providing loan guarantees to get the Mackenzie pulp mill operational again under the proper kind of community ownership, as it was a cash flow positive operation and not a money losing operation when it operated. Corporate circumstances elsewhere dictated it closure.

We could do it tomorrow if we really wanted it done. The facts are the sale of BC Rail spelt the end for Mackenzie and their pulp mill, as the shipping disruptions created inventory buildup that made a corporate decision easy to favor their other options. The BC Rail sale is a root cause of Mackenzie's problems IMO and not the forestry down turn. At the time of the sale of BC Rail the government promised the Northern Trust money would be used for venture capital to capitalize the start up costs of entrepreneurial enterprises in the affected regions. It was only AFTER the sale went through that the government changed the mandate of that capital from one of venture capital to one of regular government expenditure subsidization via the restrictions they placed on its use to that of only non-profit and community projects, or in other words a political slush fund. Mackenzie is the clear victim of these actions by government and sadly they continue to vote loyally for it.

It would not be a stretch to say the people of Mackenzie could sue the provincial government for breach of contract in the handling of the Northern Trust and its mission... and then get access to that money as its seed money to make things happen. It would be a far better allocation of capital than the current model, which sees it invested in companies like the Mackenzie pulp mill, for profits to the trust... through shady financial institutions in Toronto that lost (skimmed financially) $50 million out of the funds value last year alone in the NDI Trusts failure to protect this capital from shrinkage in pursuit of their own organizational 'right' to profits.

I do not understand why a leader couldn't formulate a plan that makes everyone happy and gets the people working again and the tax revenue from the mill and its wage earners flowing again. Call it a non profit co-op if thats what it takes, and have profit sharing for the employees and any extra corporate profits after reinvestment and growth allocations invested into a worthwhile cause like lake rehabilitation to the Wilston Reserve... or something like that which makes the government happy... so the politicians can save face before a law suit reaches the courts.

When one factors in all the lost government revenue... then a little subsidization to get a community foundation like that pulp mill working again is a fraction of the forgone revenue that would normally be generated. In fact I would argue the net government revenue from Mackenzie is balanced in Mackenzie's favor and they should be shown a little more respect then they have been.

If the Americans have a problem with this pulp production that probably wouldn't be exported to America anyways then all we have to do is bring out the facts and call them hypocrites. This article below shows the Americans subsidizing their forest industry $36 dollars to every dollar generated by the forest industry. So they don't have a leg to stand on I would think.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/16/obama-administration-appr_n_235311.html

Time Will Tell

Posted by: Palopu on July 23 2009 6:11 PM

There are no woodchips available in Mackenzie for a pulp mill. All the chips from the Canfor Mill go to Prince George Mills.

There is no market for high priced pulp (which is what Mackenzie pulp would be) around the world.

The Newsprint mill used to buy some of the Mackenzie pulp but it is also shut down.

This mill is dead meat. It will never rise again.

Putting in Government money, setting up a co-op etc; is a day dream. The mill will be dismanteled and sold.