SUN JOURNAL • August 10, 2023
Legislation that would have reimbursed the town $600,000 for lost state revenue-sharing funds as a result of the Androscoggin Mill explosion in 2020 has died in the Senate. The bill passed through the Taxation Committee and was approved by the House and Senate last spring. It went to the Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee in June for funding but died after it went back to the Senate. One of two wood pulp digesters in the mill exploded April 15, 2020, leading Pixelle Specialty Solutions to permanently idle one paper machine, lay off workers and cease making wood pulp. Pixelle had continued to operate two specialty paper machines using purchased pulp until March, when it shut down permanently.