Evergreen Corporation and its executives disappeared suddenly leaving workers unpaid without health insurance and owing the Water Board for fines. They may or may not have settled some of their debts since then, but it is still the case that the workers were treated very poorly. Evergreen could not be found when the Water District fined them for violations and the matter was turned over to the Attorney General. We who live near the mill experienced the many transgressions of Evergreen while it was running the mill including the nasty air and dark clouds. We witnessed athe many health problems resulting from this pollution.
David Tsang is a former lawyer from British Columbia. In 2004 he was cited by the Law Society of British Columbia for misconduct and his membership was suspended. He managed Evergreen for the life of the company. At Air Board meetings he held out against upgrades to the Samoa Pulp Mill and refused to do a Health Risk Assessment. It took a lawsuit to make these changes. As C.E.O. of Evergreen Pulp, Mr. Tsang bares responsibility for the transgressions of Evergreen.
Bob Simpson and Freshwater Tissue Co. claim to be starting fresh as a green company. Never mind that they can't meet the standards of the Clean Water Act. Looking back over the history of the Samoa Pulp Mill, while the mill has changed owners, many of the same people have come up again and again. How can Freshwater Tissue claim to be a new start for the Samoa Pulp Mill if the C.E.O. of Evergreen is involved.
Mr. Simpson has already been to China. Unless he wanted to taste authentic Chinese food, my guess is that he is looking for investors. We can't help but wonder if he is chatting with Lee and Mann (the company that owned Evergreen). The investors are certainly going to have a lot to say about what happens at the mill, because Freshwater Tissue doesn't have the money needed to operate and update the plant.
What is the real story? New green company or "same old, same old" with a new name.