Bankrupt company’s Vermont mill reopens

GILMAN, Vt. – American Tissue’s paper mill in Gilman is up and operating, even though the company has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

The Gilman mill, on the Vermont-New Hampshire border, reopened last Wednesday, company spokesman Kurt Goldschmidt said.

Keith Isham, vice president of the union at the mill, said the factory was shut down Saturday night due to lack of supplies, but was back in full operation.

“We’re still having a little trouble with raw materials,” said Isham. “We were told some of the problems had to do with the terrorist strike in New York, but right now I believe we have enough for two weeks.”

Isham said the mill will shut down again the first week of October for annual maintenance, but that’s a scheduled routine shutdown.

About 120 workers are employed at the Gilman mill.

American Tissue, based in Hauppauge, N.Y., filed papers in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., Sept. 10.

Earlier this month, before the bankruptcy filings, plant manager Jennifer Cusick said the plant intends to stay in full production.

American Tissue, which has holdings from Michigan to Tennessee, also owns Pulp and Paper of America, northern New Hampshire’s largest private employer with mills in Gorham and Berlin.

Last month, Pulp and Paper shut down its mills in Gorham and Berlin, laying off about 850 workers. Pulp and Paper owes millions of dollars in taxes to Berlin and Gorham, and both communities are feeling the pinch.

In a sign that the Berlin mill won’t reopen for some time, company officials are preparing to protect equipment during what could be a long, idle winter.

Nick Galante, American Tissue executive vice president, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that because there is no telling how long it will take to reorganize the company, officials are preparing for the possibility that the facilities will be closed for some time.

“We’re trying to do everything we can to reopen the plants, but as a contingency plan we have to go down a parallel path, and that is why there is talk of winterizing the plants,” Galante said.

On Wednesday, American Tissue officials were expected to be back in bankruptcy court in Delaware, Galante said.

The purpose, he said, will be to ask the court for a cash collateral order.

A cash collateral order allows companies in bankruptcy to use cash that is being held by banks as collateral on debts to continue operations in the short term, said Jack Williams, a professor working with the American Bankruptcy Institute in Alexandria, Va.