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Mount Katahdin News

Biocoal pellet plant for Millinocket faces uncertainty

The old Millinocket mill could be a biocoal plant soon.
Proposed Thermogen Biocoal Plant from Cate Street Capital, NH

MILLINOCKET, Maine (NEWS CENTER) — A project that many hoped would bring jobs back to Millinocket now faces an uncertain fate as officials in Maine will once again have to consider whether they should approve state taxpayer-backed financing for the project

The Thermogen project has been years in the making for the town. ‘Cate Street Capital,’ which is the company that owns the site of the old Millinocket paper mill, has been looking to build the new plant since 2011.

‘Cate Street’ wants to make energy rich wood pellets called ‘biocoal’ on the site of the old mill. Yet now changes to the plant’s production model could put it’s funding in jeopardy.

Officials with ‘Cate Street,’ which is based in New Hampshire, at one point said Thermogen could create about 20 new jobs upfront once it got started. The company believes that there will be a great demand for biocoal’ on the open market especially with manufacturing facilities looking to get off of coal for energy.

Now ‘Cate Street’ announced it is changing the equipment the new plant would use.

Last fall the Finance Authority of Maine narrowly approved a $25 million taxpayer-backed bond for the project. Considering the announced changes in production, the organization now once again has to decide whether it will approve the bond. According to officials with FAME, Cate Street would be required to pay back the bond, but if the company were to default, taxpayers would assume the liability.

Meanwhile ‘Cate Street’ itself owes millions of dollars to Millinocket and East Millinocket in back taxes, and company officials say all of that money has to be paid before they can close on the bond.

Officials for ‘Cate Street’ say the change to the new plant’s technology is necessary. They argue it will increase Thermogen’s production and make the project overall stronger.

“The reason we’ve done this primarily is our potential customers overseas really demanded it,” said Scott Tranchemontagne, who is a spokesperson for ‘Cate Street,’ “They want us to be able to have a stronger steam of product that they could invest in by doing contracts with us. They want to make sure we have enough product to meet their demand.”

‘Cate Street’s’ meeting with FAME will be on April 17, 2014 in Augusta. Meanwhile the company also has several other state permits it has to reapply for to get Thermogen going.

The company is hoping to break ground on the project by summer 2014.

~NEWS CENTER

 

Mt Katahdin Information

Appalachian Trail beckons to backpackers, hikers

Mt Katahdin from Jo Mary Lake beach.
Mt Katahdin from Jo Mary Lake beach.

Apr. 05, 2014 @ 11:52 PM

ARTHUR “BUTCH” MCDADE
Upland Chronicles

“Every April, hundreds of energetic hikers head north from a mountain in North Georgia called Springer to start an annual migration along a ribbon of trail marked by a distinctive white tree blaze. This trail covers some 2,180 miles as it passes through 14 states, including Tennessee, on its way to a rocky peak in Maine called Mt. Katahdin. It is a famous trail among backpackers and hikers. To hike this trail can be an “adventure of a lifetime,” as one writer called it. The trail is called the Appalachian Trail, and part of it passes along the border of Sevier County.

Many of the hikers heading north from Georgia have a big goal of getting all the way to Maine by fall, while others plan on completing the trail over multiple years by hiking sections at a time (it takes about six months of steady hiking to complete the trail in one year). But all who hike the whole trail ultimately find themselves in part of Sevier County inside Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

The Appalachian Trail runs 71 miles through the Smokies, and for approximately half that distance it shares space with Sevier County, from roughly one mile west of Derrick Knob shelter to one-half mile east of Mt. Guyot at Old Black, approximately. Along this section, which adjoins the North Carolina border, hikers and backpackers can access and experience many of the highest and most spectacular peaks and mountains in all of the Smokies. These include Mt. Buckley, Clingmans Dome (the highest peak in the Smokies at 6,643 feet above sea level), Mt. Love, Mt. Collins, Newfound Gap, Mt. Kephart, Charlies Bunion, Masa Knob, “The Sawteeth,” Mt. Sequoyah, Mt. Chapman, and Mt. Guyot (the second highest peak in the Smokies at 6,621 feet above sea level).”

[more]

Baxter State Park Information, Mt Katahdin Information, Spiders Mt Katahdin

Mount Katahdin Spider Report published by Maine Forest Service

cross spider (maine) - Araneus diadematus
Cross Spider (Katahdin, Maine) – Araneus diadematus

A new report from the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry reveals that there are 145 different species of spiders on and around Mount Katahdin, including five that have been previously unidentified.

The Maine Forest Service report is based on the scientific collection and identification work done by scientists Daniel T. Jennings, Charles D. Dondale and James H. Redner from Maine and Canada and provides scientific knowledge that could provide baseline information on habitat and recreational-use effects in the park, according to Charlene Donahue, MFS forest entomologist.

None of the 145 different species of spiders found were poisonous, as Maine has no native poisonous spiders, the MFS forest entomologist said. The five previous unidentified species are unique to the North American alpine environment found on Katahdin and some of them have also been found on Mt. Washington and in Quebec.

Some Katahdin specimens are available in the MFS insect collection, while others are being kept at the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology, Cambridge, Mass.

As part of its mission, the state’s Forest Service frequently publishes technical reports on a variety of scientific subjects, from invasive insects to silviculture, as a way to support Maine landowners, forest managers and businesspeople.

A checklist of documented spiders is available at www.maine.gov/doc/mfs/idmhome.htm. For more information about the Maine Forest Service, go to www.maineforestservice.gov.

Baxter State Park Information, Mt Katahdin Information

New happenings!

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American Loggers Restaurant - greta food and drinks in the Katahdin region.
American Loggers Restaurant, Millinocket, Maine

Wow. We have added Buddypress to our website and now we have a completely “facebook-like” online community dedicated to Mt. Katahdin. Users can upload Profile pics (we call them Avatars) and jump in. If you have a business, you can make a webpage for it, right here at our site. For FREE!  You can insert photos (like the one at the right), videos, links to other sites, stories, testimonials, anything.

Get started now.  Click the “Register” link.

Baxter State Park Information, Climbing Mt Katahdin, Mt Katahdin Information

Welcome to Mt-Katahdin.com!

Hi.  Welcome to our new site.  We have compiled a large amount of information for those wishing to visit our region.  We also feature stories, photos and videos from the Millinocket, Medway, Sherman and Patten, Maine area.  An area otherwise known as the “Katahdin Region.” Start at our Homepage and go from there!