Feds: Cost-saving measure led to deaths of 2 employees at Down East mill

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • July 14, 2026

The Baileyville mill where a chemical release killed two young workers last winter did not have adequate safety measures, according to an investigative update released Tuesday by federal officials. The incident at Woodland Pulp’s bleach plant in Washington County claimed the lives of a UMaine college student and a rising chemical engineer, and injured an additional 10 employees who were also exposed to the toxic gas. The cause of the gas exposure was traced to the previous day, when managers decided to shut down most of the mill due to high operating costs that followed a rise in the price of natural gas. The shutdown included a fan that normally would remove hydrogen sulfide from inside the mill. Without the scrubber fan, the toxic gas accumulated in a sewer pipe and escaped through piping to other areas of the building, where Kasie Malcolm, 20, and Allen Hornberger, 26, were later found.