D?j? Vu All Over Again

Gov. John Baldacci can be forgiven for feeling like he is living the movie “Groundhog Day.” In the governor’s case, the repeated winter day has him preparing to give a major speech while at the same time feverishly trying to broker a deal to save a paper mill and the hundreds of jobs it provides.

A year ago, on the eve of his inauguration speech, Great Northern Paper, a stalwart of the Millinocket area economy for a century, declared bankruptcy. This week, just prior to his State of the State address, the governor was hit by the news that Eastern Fine Paper was shutting down its mills in Lincoln and Brewer while it searched for money to keep them going.

Thanks to the governor’s involvement, Great Northern, now called Katahdin Paper, was partly saved. The East Millinocket mill is back in operation and the Millinocket mill is slated to open later this year. The mills will employ far fewer people than they did when they closed in December 2002, but hundreds of jobs remain.

The governor also stepped in last spring to prevent the closure of the Georgia-Pacific mill in Old Town. The corporation planned to shut down its tissue-making operations there and move them to New York. The governor convinced G-P to keep some machines operating in Old Town. Again, many jobs were lost, but many were saved.

Now, the governor has again stepped in and pledged to find a way to restart at least one of Eastern Fine’s mills. “I don’t want to let this one get away,” Gov. Baldacci said Tuesday, shortly before giving his annual address to the state Legislature.

Economic development commissioner Jack Cashman took the sentiment a step further. “We can’t afford to do anything except everything in our power to keep these mills going,” he said. “We don’t have an alternative. These are good jobs, and we damn well don’t want to lose them.”

The governor and his Cabinet are to be commended for doing everything they can to restart the mills and keep as many jobs as possible. But they cannot be expected to continue to perform miracles.

As they know, they are fighting against large economic forces and corporate decisions made in distant cities. The Maine paper industry has long been in decline and the lack of investment over the years in mills here has now made the plants large liabilities for the corporations that own them. Maine mills are among the most expensive for these corporations to operate and when it comes time to cut costs, they are targeted.

The administration’s approach to helping mature industries, by lowering energy costs and taxes, for example, while boosting newer ones, is on track. But, given another mill shutdown, the latter has taken on new urgency. Saving jobs in a lagging industry is commendable, creating new ones in a growing business is equally necessary.