BANGOR — Maine state and local officials have no interest in renewing discussions with the potential buyer of a pair of paper mills after negotiations collapsed last week.

Michael Madore, a Millinocket town councilor, said after a meeting with Gov. Paul LePage on Monday in Augusta that “Meriturn is no longer a player in this game.”

Meriturn wanted $48 million in tax breaks from towns, but Millinocket Town Manager Gene Conlogue tells the Bangor Daily News that wasn’t the only issue. Meriturn also wanted labor concessions, a biomass cogeneration facility in Millinocket and relief from liabilities associated with an old mill dump in East Millinocket.

San Francisco-based Meriturn had planned to restart the idled East Millinocket mill today; it also planned to reopen the Millinocket mill, which shut down in 2008.


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