How did the Samoa Pulp Mill change ownership from Evergreen Pulp to Freshwater Tissue Co without the debts of Evergreen being paid? This includes $900,000 owed the Water Board, the severance pay owed the mill workers and perhaps other debts. It seems whenever the mill is in trouble, it changes ownership behind closed doors. Why doesn't the fine follow the property? Why wasn't the debt to the workers included as part of the deal with Freshwater? What happened to Evergreen anyway? Why can't the workers put a lien on the property before it changes hands again? Just asking... Maybe someone else knows.
8 Comments
salty old dog
9/30/2010 10:50:16 am
One scenario (though not a pretty one) would have Bob Simpson actually working in the interests of the Chinese.
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repeat
10/1/2010 04:33:59 am
Like Bob said, The only people to collect from is Evergreen Pulp (which is no longer) Lee and Mann sold the company to a holding company in the virgin islands shortly before it shut down.The only people with money (Lee & Mann)are the people that skipped out. All the public relations Evergreen carried on didn't mean squat(we are here for the long term). Virgina Bass (as public relations rep) was even on the payroll for a short time. Evergreen was platent concerning faking the public. Didn't anyone see this? I believe all the workers only wanted to do was recoup what ever was lost(by fighting for the mill). You are right the pulp mill stinks. Long term exposure can have bad effects. So does sunlight and a myraid of other things in our enviroment I believe ,for the sake of property values you have pursued the endeavor. I also believe you (the people concerned) will move out of "west Eureka" as soon as they go up. So,at the end of the day in the real world we are all a bunch of selfish people under a guise of"do gooders"
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10/1/2010 03:33:29 pm
Another question, if Freshwater was really planning to start up soon, why didn't it have the necessary permits. On May 19, 2010 the E.P.A. sent Freshwater a letter that said that certain things must be fixed to "control the hazardous air emissions from the pulping systems including the oxygen delignation system controls" before the mill could open. Freshwater had the permits to construct, but never turned these into the permits to operate the necessary equipment despite the fact that these permits took a while to be processed. All the while, Freshwater was sounding like they were going to open soon. As of a couple of weeks ago, they still had not applied for these permits. Makes you wonder.
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john q. public
10/2/2010 02:42:54 am
It is time for Dist. Atty. Paul Gallegos to investigate the whole Evergreen Pulp/Freshwater Tissue fiasco. Investigate Bob Simpson, , Nolan, Benbow, David Tsang, Evergreen Pulp, Freshwater Pulp, Lee & Mann, Virginia Bass and Rex Bohn, and anyone else that has had anything to do with Evergreen Pulp and Freshwater Tissue.
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10/2/2010 03:30:17 am
I have deleted 2 comments allegedly written by Bob Simpson. As I mentioned earlier, I will delete all such comments, because I cannot be sure that they were written by Bob Simpson. Earlier comments were submitted and then Mr. Simpson threatened to sue me, yet again, because he claimed I wrote them. Anyway one of these recent comments had to do with how Freshwater avoided the debts of Evergreen by something called the California bulk sales statute. The other comment was about why he never spent the money to get the necessary air permits to run necessary equipment.
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10/2/2010 04:19:59 pm
For the record, the two comments that Mr. Simpson said he did not write have been deleted. They were not written by any of the supporters of this blog. If Mr. Simpson will look closely at the comment in which someone confesses to writing them, the person says they know Mr. Simpson and says it has been a hard two years. We assumed this meant it was an ex mill worker.
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Local Traditions
10/3/2010 10:42:25 am
The regulatory purpose of fines is to bring operations into compliance, not put them out of business. What good would that $900,000 do now? The workers' health insurance claims were paid, per contract, a good thing. The WARN act monies are small and also wouldn't make a difference in workers lives now, two years down the road.
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1st amendment
10/4/2010 06:53:23 am
Westeureka;
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AuthorWe live here in West Eureka have been victims of Evergreen Pulp's pollution. Now Freshwater Pulp wants to start it up again. We would like to know your thoughts and experiences with this. Now that Freshwater is not going to reopen, we are concerned about the massive quantity of contaminants that have been dumped on the site. These sites usually leak into adjacent areas and people live 750 yards from the point of maximum impact, the most polluted point, a Hot spot. We are also concerned that the Marina center site be properly cleaned up and will continue to discuss other local issues here. However, we will not let the mill issue rest until we actually see the smokestacks go down and the site is cleaned up. Archives
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