Plans
by the government of Nova Scotia to spend $125 million to help reopen a failed
paper mill in Cape Breton could threaten production and jobs in Maine's
struggling paper industry, officials say.
The
Canadian mill is a former NewPage Corp. facility in Port Hawkesbury. It makes
grades of magazine and catalog paper similar to those of some of Maine's
largest paper makers, including the Verso Paper Corp. facilities in Bucksport and
Jay, the Sappi Fine Paper mill in Skowhegan, the UPM-Biofore Company mill in
Madison and the NewPage mill in Rumford, which currently is operating under
bankruptcy reorganization.
Maine's
industry worries that provincial subsidies that include loans and discount
electric rates would let the Canadian mill sell its products at lower prices,
at a time when demand for magazine and catalog paper in North America is
already down.
