Duane Hicks
FORT FRANCES—After stopping paper production Tuesday morning due to a problem identified at the company’s effluent treatment system at the lagoon in the north end of town, the AbitibiBowater mill here should be back in operation as of this evening.
“We found a solution for the situation at our operation in Fort Frances, and we’re now proceeding with the recovery plan that entails the re-start of our operations as early as tonight,” Jean-Philippe Cote, director of public affairs and government relations with AbitibiBowater, said Friday afternoon from Montreal.
Cote was not able to elaborate on what the solution to the problem was since he did not have the technical details at the time.
News broke Tuesday morning that tests showed the mill’s effluent treatment system exceeded its daily biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) limit, and consequently the company had to shut down operations at the mill until the problem could be addressed.
Cote said the past three days have had a “minimal impact” on operations.
He noted mill workers, who have kept working the past few days in preparation for the shutdown and now are working to get everything up and running again, did not have to lose shifts.
(Fort Frances Daily Bulletin)
