Idled paper mill in NY may reopen

Executives in New York's Rensselaer County have announced that the former Fort Orange Paper Co. mill, Castleton, N.Y., has been sold to a company that plans to convert the facility into a $250 million recycled-content paperboard mill. The paper mill has been idle for about 15 years.

According to the Albany Times Union, Rensselaer County is selling the property on which the idle mill is located for $600,000 to Castleton Paperboard LLC, an affiliate of MiniMill Technologies, Syracuse, N.Y.

To meet New York State Department of Environmental Conservation standards, the property has been partially remediated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, with Castleton Paperboard LLC to undertake additional cleanup measures, according to the newspaper.

Rensselaer County Executive Kathy Jimino is quoted by the Times Union as saying, “This is exciting news that a property which was abandoned, off the tax rolls and environmentally damaged can once again become a clean, productive place of employment that will be adding vitality back to the community,”

MiniMill Technologies, which has offices in Syracuse and in Chennai, India, describes itself as a “boutique operations outsourcing and EPCM (engineering, procurement and construction management) firm [and] providers of complete turnkey solutions for the packaging and tissue sectors of the global pulp and paper industry.”