Read through these articles I've put in chronological order. Follow the links and watch the films,

look at the pictures. Connect the dots and take a look at what's just under the surface. I think the

following information will help one see the Sappi picture more clearly. You can reach your own

conclusions and act as you best see fit from there.

Enjoy! :)

US Union, CEPPWAWU Protest at Sappi AGM

ICEM News release No. 11/2004

http://www.icem.org/en/77-All-ICEM-News-Releases/1124-US-Union-CEPPWAWU-

Protest-at-Sappi-AGM

Union members of two ICEM affiliates rallied today against the anti-union practices of global

paper company Sappi Ltd. outside the firm's Annual General Meeting in Johannesburg, South

Africa.

Representatives of US-based Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical, Energy (PACE) Workers Union

joined union brothers and sisters from South African Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood

and Allied Workers Union (CEPPWAWU) to condemn the company's aggressive attempts to

weaken workers' rights in both countries.

The PACE delegation and CEPPWAWU leaders then gained entry to the AGM, while

CEPPWAWU members continued to rally outside the firm's headquarters in the Braamfontein

financial district of Johannesburg.

"We have taken this action to serve notice to Sappi management that its refusal to deal fairly

with workers and their unions must come to an end," declared CEPPWAWU President Pasco

Dyani, himself a Sappi employee at the Adamas paper mill in Port Elizabeth. "We are pleased to

join with union members from America to build the international solidarity necessary to confront

Sappi's attacks on working families."

CEPPWAWU represents workers at Sappi's seven paper mills across South Africa. The union is

in dispute with the firm over management demands to unilaterally impose so-called "labour

market flexibility" that would severely weaken the union's ability to protect workers' rights on

the shop floor.

In the US, PACE Union members have been without new labour agreements for over a year at

two Sappi paper mills in Somerset and Westbrook, Maine. Sappi managers at those locations

have proposed to drastically cut workers' income and health care benefits. Sappi has also

proposed substantial cuts in retiree health benefits. PACE members at the two mills and a third

US mill in Muskegon, Michigan, have formed a bargaining alliance to reject management's

demands for concessions.

"Sappi stakeholders should understand that management's attempts to lower the living standards

of working families and diminish the rights of workers on the shop floor places the company on

a collision course with labour," stated Keith Romig, Director of National and International

Affairs for PACE.

The labour agreement at the Muskegon mill is scheduled to expire in June. Together, the three

mills account for more than 80 percent of Sappi's fine paper production in North America, and

25% of production worldwide.

The ICEM assisted the two affiliates' actions in Johannesburg today. While in South Africa,

PACE, CEPPWAWU and ICEM representatives will lay a foundation for more effective

cooperation among unions representing Sappi workers worldwide.

"Every Sappi mill in South Africa, Europe and North America is organized by trade unions

affiliated with the ICEM," said ICEM Paper and Chemical Sectors Officer Marc Welters. "By

building stronger bonds between all unions at Sappi, workers will gain the strength to deal

effectively with this company's hostile approach to labour relations."

Sappi Fine Paper reaffirms sustainability commitment

http://www.reliableplant.com/Read/17098/sappi-fine-paper-reaffirms-sustainability-

commitment

With the celebration of Earth Day on April 22, Sappi Fine Paper North America on April 21

announced that it will continue supporting Living Lands & Waters in 2009 and reaffirmed its

commitment to operating sustainably.

As part of Sappi Fine Paper North America's corporate sponsorships, since 2007, the company

has supported Living Lands & Waters, a non-profit, environmental organization focused on the

protection, preservation and restoration of America's major rivers and their watersheds. Last

year, Sappi and Living Lands & Waters co-organized and participated in river cleanups in

Louisville, Ky., and this year, Sappi will invite employees and customers to participate in future

cleanups to be held in the Midwest, which is where the organization is based. With Sappi's

support in 2008, Living Lands & Waters' activities included removing 250 tons of garbage from

America's rivers; reaching over 2,500 educators and students through educational workshops and

in-school presentations; and cultivating over 338,000 viable acorns in their nursery as part of

their MillionTrees Project.

"Sappi Fine Paper North America is pleased to continue its corporate sponsorship of Living

Lands & Waters, for it is an environmental organization that is truly remarkable in its mission

and its grassroots approach to cleaning up our nation's rivers and watersheds. Our support for

Living Lands & Waters is just one of the many ways that Sappi is demonstrating our ongoing

commitment to sustainability," said Jennifer Miller, executive vice president of marketing and

communications, Sappi Fine Paper North America.

Sustainability is fundamental to Sappi Fine Paper North America's corporate strategy and below

are highlights of some of its sustainability initiatives:

Triple chain of custody certification: As of February 2008, each of Sappi's coated fine paper

mills in North America – Somerset Mill, Muskegon Mill and Cloquet Mill – have triple chain of

custody certifications to the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI), Forest Stewardship Council

(FSC), and Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) programs, and

renewed certification to the 2005-2009 SFI Standard, which was first achieved in 2004. In

addition, the Cloquet and Somerset Mills are also certified to the Sustainable Forestry Initiatives'

Fiber Sourcing program. All certifications were achieved through independent third-party audits

managed by Bureau Veritas.

Offering products with post-consumer waste fiber: Sappi Fine Paper North America's coated

fine paper mills use recycled fiber derived from post-consumer waste (PCW) to make Sappi

papers available with 10 to 30 percent PCW.

Limiting contribution to greenhouse gases: Sappi Fine Paper North America is committed to

reducing energy consumption and the use of fossil fuels in order to reduce the generation of

greenhouse gases. More than 75 percent of all energy used in Sappi's North American mills

comes from renewable resources including hydroelectric power, and the burning of biomass and

black liquor. Sappi's environmental initiatives at its mills have resulted in a 30 percent decrease

per ton in CO2 emissions across all Sappi Fine Paper North America manufacturing sites from

2004 to 2008. The Cloquet Mill is certified by the Center for Resource Solutions as a Green-e

provider. One-hundred percent of the electricity used in the manufacturing of McCoy, Opus

sheets with 30 percent post-consumer waste (PCW), Opus web with 30 percent PCW and LOE,

is certified renewable energy that is generated onsite by Sappi.

Commitment to the communities where the company work: Sappi Fine Paper North

America's sites build strong community relationships and donate and/or volunteer at local non-

profit organizations, which include supporting programs in education, youth at risk and AIDS

prevention.

Achieving ISO 14001:2004 certification: The environmental management systems at Sappi's

coated fine paper mills in North America are certified to the ISO 14001:2004 standard – the

internationally accepted standard used to demonstrate an organization's commitment to the

environment.

Sappi Paper mill to close permanently

Published: Wednesday, August 26, 2009, 12:11 PM Updated: Wednesday, August 26, 2009, 6:08 PM

By Lynn Moore | The Muskegon Chronicle

http://www.mlive.com/news/muskegon/index.ssf/2009/08/sappi_paper_mill_to_close_pe

rm.html

Sappi Fine Paper North America announced this morning the permanent closing of its Muskegon

mill, ending a 109-year tradition of making paper in the city of Muskegon.

The company suspended operations in April at the plant on Muskegon Lake. It will not reopen

the massive industrial facility, leaving 190 union and salaried workers without a job.

The decision by the South African paper giant to end its Muskegon operations was based upon

the "global economic downturn," company officials said.

"The permanent closure of the Muskegon mill, while an extremely difficult decision to make, is

necessary to ensure that we remain competitive in today's global marketplace," said Ralph

Boettger, head of Sappi Limited in Johannesburg.

Mark Gardner, president and CEO of Sappi Fine Paper North America in Boston and a former

Muskegon mill manager, said the decision to close the operation is not a reflection on the local

workers. Sappi production workers are represented by the United Steel Workers of America

Local 1015.

"We understand the hardship this decision creates for our employees at the Muskegon mill,"

Gardner said. "Our workforce in Muskegon is very dedicated, achieving record productivity and

safety performance in the last year of operation. Unfortunately, the scale of the site made it

difficult to successfully compete against larger paper mills throughout the world."

Workers have been hopeful the paper mill would reopen this fall but have braced themselves for

the worst, according to Mark Evans -- a 29-year veteran Sappi production worker and member of

the Local 1015 bargaining committee. Union officials were told less than an hour before the

formal announcement was made this morning.

"The Asians can sell the paper cheaper than we can make it," Evans said of the global realities.

"This is foreign competition killing the American worker again."

Sappi is now hiring an "advisor" to seek purchasers for the Muskegon mill but the company will

not be selling the property or its manufacturing assets in the coated paper or writing paper sector,

Gardner said.

"We will be discussing with company officials the use of that property going into the future,"

said Muskegon Mayor Steve Warmington of the site that has nearly one mile of Muskegon Lake

shoreline. City officials are meeting with Sappi management Thursday, Warmington said.

Sappi Fine Paper North America Announces Public

Auction of Muskegon Mill Assets August 6, 2010

http://www.na.sappi.com/aboutus/news/2010-08-6

– BOSTON - Sappi Fine Paper North America announced today that a public auction will be

held September 29, 2010 by LiquiTec Industries, in association with Can-Am Machinery, to sell

the assets from Sappi's permanently closed coated paper mill in Muskegon, Michigan.

Equipment from the Muskegon pulp mill, paper mill, and converting facility, will be for sale.

Primary assets up for bid include a 174" wire width paper machine wet end, 2004 Bielomatik

folio ream wrapper, Jagenberg Synchro 86" folio sheeter, Jagenberg converting complex sheeter

and ream carton packaging line, Voith pulper, and a MSK/Covertech automatic shrink wrap skid

carton line. For a list of the Muskegon Mill assets up for bid, visit: www.liquitec.net. For

additional information regarding the auction, contact Cate Giltner with LiquiTec Industries, Inc.

at 800-852-9252 or cgiltner@liquitec.net.

AED's Website

http://www.biggerblast.com/

Demolition Gone Wrong (video)

Uploaded by elitedata on Nov 11, 2010

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxdCwqJe1os

Stack Demolition Falls Wrong Way

November 12, 2010

By JOSELYN KING Staff Writer With AP Dispatches

http://www.theintelligencer.net/page/content.detail/id/548787/Stack-Demolition-Falls-

Wrong-Way.html?nav=515

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - A demolition project went wrong this week for a firm associated with

the proposed removal of the Bellaire Toll Bridge.

Advanced Explosives Demolition Inc. - the demolition crew featured on the reality television

show "The Imploders" - was taking down a nearly 300-foot smokestack at an old Ohio power

plant Wednesday when it toppled in the wrong direction. The motion sent spectators scrambling

before knocking down two 12,000-volt power lines and crashing onto a building housing backup

generators, officials said.

No injuries were reported after the 275-foot tower at the unused 83-year-old Mad River Power

Plant teetered and then fell in a southeast direction - instead of east, as originally planned -

seconds after explosives were detonated.

Lisa Kelly, president of AED, said the explosives detonated correctly, but an undetected crack on

the south side of the tower pulled it in a different direction.

"Nobody's happy with things that go wrong in life, and sometimes it's out of our hands and

beyond anybody's prediction. ... We're all extremely thankful no one was injured," Kelly added.

In September, AED filed a legal complaint in Kootenai County, Idaho, court against Delta

Demolition and KDC Investments, Delta attorney Jeremy Domoczik confirmed. The complaint

surrounds the issue of whether AED or Delta Demolition/KDC owns the Bellaire Toll Bridge

and who has the right to take it down.

AED purchased the bridge last spring from Bellaire businessman Roger Barack for $1. The firm

then reportedly sold the bridge to Krystle Chaklos of Delta Demolition - under the name KDC

Investments - for $25,000. Indications then were that KDC and Delta Demolition would use

AED to take the span down with an explosion.

Smoke stack implosion: What went wrong? (w/ video)

Company hired for implosion has perfect record

Updated: Friday, 12 Nov 2010, 9:38 AM EST

http://www.wdtn.com/dpp/news/local/springfield/smoke-stack-implosion-what-went-

wrong%3F

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio (WDTN) - 2 News has learned new information about the wayward

demolition that put Springfield in the headlines.

Video of the smoke stack mistake made several national news shows.

Company officials now say a crack on the side of the smokestack may be to blame in this

demolition gone wrong.

The Idaho based company Advanced Explosives Demolition was hired for the project. 2 News

has learned the company has a perfect safety record.

It is a small family based company, located in Couer D'Alene, and the owners have been

toppling towers, smoke stacks, and blasting buildings for thirty years.

According the company's website, they have no OSHA citations.

Experts say demolition mistakes can happen, and are common.

The company was imploding the Mad River smoke stack on Wednesday afternoon, but the tower

fell in the wrong direction, crushing a power station, and toppling 12,500 volt power lines.

Members of the media and spectators on the sidelines had to run for their lives, as power lines

came crashing down toward them.

2 News videographer said the power lines knocked a hard hat off a child's head.

Many members of the media had commented about the proximity to power lines as they waited

for the implosion.

"I said something to one of the guys, I said if that thing falls backward, it's going to take out the

lines. He says it's not going to happen," said Hatcher.

"Then the blast went off, and it sat there for a minute. It was like, it just seemed like forever, and

then it started to sway backwards and immediately we knew that this is bad," added Hatcher.

Power lines snapped like twigs with the weight of the 275 foot tall structure.

"The lines were dancing around like jump ropes, double dutch. Two ropes going opposite

directions, just swinging around and you don't know where they're going to go," said Hatcher.

Officials were celebrating the fact that everyone walked away from the incident without a

scratch.

"It was a close call, there's no doubt about it. 24,000 volts will kill you in a second. There's no

second chance," said Hatcher.

Advanced Explosives Demolition is run by a husband and wife team. They were actually

featured in a TLC documentary called "The Imploders".

Our calls to the company headquarters in Idaho were not returned on Thursday.

Melching's Web Site

http://www.melchingdemolition.com/

Melching Inc. of Nunica buys the Sappi Fine Paper mill

property on Muskegon Lake

Published: Thursday, August 25, 2011, 4:10 PM Updated: Thursday, August 25, 2011, 4:50 PM

By Dave Alexander | Muskegon Chronicle

http://www.mlive.com/business/west-

michigan/index.ssf/2011/08/melching_inc_of_nunica_buys_th.html?utm_source=feedbur

ner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+oak_business_review+%28Oakland

+Business+Review+-+MLive.com%29

MUSKEGON — Sappi Fine Paper North American made the stunning announcement Thursday

afternoon that a West Michigan demolition company has purchased its vacant mill on a

sprawling Muskegon Lake site.

Melching Inc. of Nunica has purchased the South African company's Muskegon plant and

waterfront property for an undisclosed price, company officials said. The purchase includes

about 119 acres and nearly a mile of Muskegon Lake waterfront property in the city of

Muskegon's Lakeside neighborhood.

"Sappi Fine Paper of North America slected Melching Inc. as the buyer based on its expertise

and successful track record in addressing industrial sites, strong long-term relationships in the

local area and robust redevelopment plans," said Sappi Vice President Anne Ayer.

According to Sappi officials, Melching is reviewing plans to redevelop the site for a "variety of

industrial uses." Melching is a demolition, dismantling and industrial remediation services

company. Sanabe & Associates LLC was Sappi's financial advisor in the transaction that was

completed Thursday, company officials said.

Sappi and previous paper companies had produced product on the Muskegon mill site for more

than 100 years. Sappi permanently ended operations on the site in August 2009 "due to industry

and economic conditions," the company said. In 2010, the company had a massive auction of its

equipment.

Jonathan Seely FOX 17 Web Producer (w/video)

8:54 p.m. EDT, August 25, 2011

MUSKEGON, Mich.—

http://www.fox17online.com/news/fox17-muskegon-paper-mill-sells-sappi-fine-paper-

sells-former-muskegon-plant-20110825,0,2666326.story

Sappi Fine Paper North America announced Thursday the sale of their Muskegon Mill site to

Melching, Inc. The Muskegon plant is a former pulp mill, paper mill and converting facility.

Sappi closed the site in August 2009, citing unfavorable industry and economic conditions.

Melching is said to be looking into redeveloping the site for a variety of industrial uses.

In a statement published on the Sappi website, Sappi stated that Melching, Inc. was selected as a

buyer for the site based on a successful track record with industrial sites, and robust

redevelopment plans among other reasons.

Melching is a demolition and industrial remediation services company based in Nunica,

Michigan. Exact plans for the site are not known at this time.

Sappi paper mill in Muskegon bought by Nunica

company

7:00 PM, Aug 26, 2011

http://www.wzzm13.com/news/article/176900/2/Sappi-paper-mill-in-Muskegon-bought-by-

Nunica-company

MUSKEGON, Mich. (WZZM) - A demolition company from Nunica, Michigan has purchased

the former Sappi paper mill in Muskegon.

Melching, Inc. announced Friday that it has purchased the former paper mill site in hopes of

redeveloping the property. In a press statement, Brandon Murphy, the Operations Manager for

Melching says that they are currently "working on a robust plan of redevelopment, and have

several interested parties."

The statement goes on to say that they are looking for what is best for the Muskegon community.

The first phase of the project will be the removal of obsolete equipment.

Sappi suspended operations at the Muskegon mill in April of 2009 and permanently ceased

operations at the plant in August of 2009.

Nunica company buys closed Muskegon paper mill

Mark Brooky

02:48 PM

Aug 27

2011

http://sip-phones.tmcnet.com/news/2011/08/27/5735675.htm

MUSKEGON, Aug 27, 2011 (Grand Haven Tribune - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services

via COMTEX) -- A Northwest Ottawa County demolition company has purchased the Sappi

paper mill in Muskegon, which closed two years ago.

Officials from Melching Inc. of Nunica announced Friday that they have purchased the former

paper mill site in hopes of redeveloping the nearly 120-acre property on Lakeshore Drive, along

the south shore of Muskegon Lake.

In a press statement, Melching Operations Manager Brandon Murphy said that they are currently

"working on a robust plan of redevelopment, and have several interested parties." The first phase

of the project will be the removal of obsolete equipment, Murphy said.

The paper mill in Muskegon's Lakeside district first opened in 1900 as the Central Paper Co. It

was bought by S.D. Warren Co. in 1953 with about 700 people working there at the time,

according to a website run by the S.D. Warren employees association. In 1967, S.D. Warren

became a subsidiary of the Scott Paper Co.

Sappi Ltd., a South Africa-based company, bought the paper mill in 1994. According to Sappi

officials, market conditions changed over the next 15 years and it suspended operations at the

Muskegon mill in April 2009, then permanently shut it down four months later.

Sappi Fine Paper North America, which has U.S. headquarters in Boston, announced the sale to

Melching Inc. on Thursday.

"Sappi ... selected Melching Inc. as the buyer based on its expertise and successful track record

in addressing industrial sites, strong long-term relationships in the local area and robust

redevelopment plans," Anne Ayer, vice president of corporate development for Sappi, said in a

statement.

Melching Demolition was founded in 1986 by Doug Melching, the company's president. It

provides demolition, environmental and asbestos abatement work in commercial, industrial and

residential markets.

Future of Sappi paper mill site in Muskegon likely to be

industrial use

Published: Sunday, August 28, 2011, 6:03 AM Updated: Sunday, August 28, 2011, 9:31 AM

By Dave Alexander | Muskegon Chronicle

http://www.mlive.com/business/west-

michigan/index.ssf/2011/08/the_future_of_the_muskegon_pap.html

MUSKEGON — As large portions of the Sappi paper mill begin to crumble down, don't expect

residential condominiums, marinas, waterfront restaurants and art shops to sprout up in their

place.

It seems the future of the Sappi Fine Paper mill property on Muskegon Lake will remain

industrial in nature for decades to come. That could mean jobs with family-sustaining wages for

Muskegon County residents.

Sappi Fine Paper North America last week sold the massive 119-acre mill site at 2400 Lakeshore

on the edge of Muskegon's Lakeside Neighborhood to Melching Inc. The purchase price of the

site on Muskegon Lake with nearly a mile of waterfront was not disclosed.

Since the Sappi property sale was made public, the future of the critical waterfront site has been

a topic of speculation throughout the Muskegon area, city of Muskegon officials said.

Community leaders said the Sappi property sale was a significant development for Muskegon.

In announcing the sale, Sappi said the new owners — a large demolition company in Nunica —

will redevelop the site for “industrial” use. A statement from Melching late Friday indicated the

same, but no specifics were offered.

“Melching … purchased this property in hopes of redeveloping the site and generating new jobs

within the community of Muskegon,” according to a statement signed by Brandon Murphy,

Melching operations manager.

“We are currently working on a robust plan of redevelopment and have several interested

parties,” Murphy said in the brief statement. “We are still seeking new plans for redevelopment

but will be strongly influenced by what is best for the Muskegon community and its economic

future.”

Doug Melching, company founder and president, told The Chronicle late last week that his

company had been working on the Sappi purchase for more than two years. He said his company

was investigated by the South African paper company and selected among five other companies.

"It was a long haul," Melching said of the deal. "For me, it's all about Muskegon. We are taking a

huge risk but we have put together a great team that will make this happen."

As the sale of the property was completed Thursday, new signs appeared at the paper mill plant

entrance that included Melching Demolition and Dismantling, Lakeshore Environmental Inc. of

Grand Haven and HarborPointe Realty and its agent Mike Murphy.

Those in the demolition and industrial real estate development sectors say they suspect that

Melching is the public company for a team that is supporting the redevelopment. They speculate

that other prominent West Michigan companies also may be involved in the purchase and

redevelopment plans.

Muskegon Mayor Steve Warmington said he had a brief conversation with Murphy a week

before the sale was completed. He said the city's discussions with Sappi over the months since

the plant closed in August 2009 makes it clear residential development is out.

“In our conversations at the city with Sappi, I would suspect that there is a provision in the

(Melching) buy-sell agreement that there would be absolutely no residential on the property

going forward,” Warmington said, adding that Murphy indicated the same. Murphy was

unavailable for comment.

Warmington said Sappi offered the waterfront property to the city if the city would accept

environmental liabilities. Those knowledgeable about the Sappi property offer said the company

would not allow a prospective buyer to complete environmental soil testing prior to completing

the deal.

Warmington said that without such environmental assessments, the city's attorney and

environmental consultant advised the city not to take possession of the mill property.

“The indication from the general manager of the mill was that there are no real hot spots of

environmental contamination but that the property has environmental issues,” Warmington said.

“They didn't think there were any major environmental issues. I don't think there is anything

there that the community needs to be worried about.”

The environmental issues on the site are now the concern of the new owners. Melching officials

declined to discuss specific environmental issues concerning the property.

If the Sappi site is redeveloped for industrial-type uses, the environmental cleanup of the site is

set at a lower standard, thus saving the new owners and potentially Sappi major environmental

costs, according to city officials and those with “brownfield” redevelopment expertise.

The property remains zoned “general industrial” in the city's zoning ordinance — the heaviest

industrial zoning available. That would allow for everything from further paper and pulp

manufacturing to a foundry or chemical plant, according to city ordinance.

“As a community, we are excited about the potential for new jobs,” Warmington said. “We

certainly hope for more rather than fewer jobs but realize we will not replace the 1,000 jobs that

Sappi once had at the mill.

“Anyone who looks to operate on the site needs to be sensitive to the adjacent residential area

and the location on the waterfront,” Warmington said.

For the immediate future, Warmington said the new owners indicate they will have a user of the

deep-water slip and work with those interested in restarting the power plant that can produce

both electricity and steam.

Most of the remaining buildings, Warmington said, would be demolished. Sappi is a huge,

sprawling industrial complex that has been built up since the former Central Paper Co. began

operation on the site in 1899.

The plant demolition is expected to take up to a year to complete and would employ more than

100 workers over that time, Warmington said of what the new owners have indicated.

“The initial phase of the project will consist of removing obsolete equipment and maintaining the

site before moving forward with redevelopment,” Murphy said in a Melching statement on the

Sappi purchase.

City of Muskegon officials have heard from many companies and groups interested in

purchasing or redeveloping the Sappi site, Warmington said. Those parties had redevelopment

plans for the mill power plant while others wanted to manufacture and distribute wind turbines,

create a shipyard and set up an environmental reclamation operation, he said.

The kind of uses being proposed created jobs and sewage flow to the Muskegon County

Wastewater Management System, the mayor said. Sappi was the wastewater system's largest

user and the plant closure drastically reduced the flow to the county facility, causing an increase

in sewer rates for municipalities and industries.

No group has more emotional interest in the future of the site than former workers. Steve

Keglovitz worked at the paper mill for years and is a former union president. He now heads the

West Michigan Labor Council.

“I was kind of disappointed to see the sale was to a reclamation firm,” Keglovitz said. “There is a

lot of good equipment on that site such as the power plant and a water system less than 20 years

old. It wasn't bargain-basement stuff. We put in good equipment that I hate to see demolished.”

But when it comes to the future use of the property, Kegloivitz said he is encouraged by the

signals being sent by Sappi and the new owners.

“I hope they keep it heavy industrial,” Keglovitz said. “The cost of cleaning up that property for

residential use will be too much … the site would then just sit there.”

Sappi paper mill property owner Doug Melching

explains his purchase and plans

Published: Sunday, October 16, 2011, 6:21 AM Updated: Monday, October 17, 2011, 10:38 AM

By Dave Alexander | Muskegon Chronicle

http://www.mlive.com/business/west-

michigan/index.ssf/2011/10/paper_mill_property_owner_doug.html?utm_source=feedbur

ner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+oak_business_review+%28Oakland

+Business+Review+-+MLive.com%29

MUSKEGON — Doug Melching is a veteran West Michigan demolition expert and business

owner. His company Melching Inc. of Nunica purchased the former Sappi paper mill property on

Muskegon Lake last month for $2.3 million.

Last week, Melching answered questions from The Muskegon Chronicle on his purchase.

Q: What is your motivation for purchasing the Muskegon paper mill property?

A: Motivation for this endeavor is employment for Melching Inc., job creation for Muskegon

and the overall West Michigan economic development. The land will not be “flipped.” Other

interested parties will have the opportunity to propose offers, leases, buy and/or develop sections

as they see appropriate for their use.

Q: What kind of “industrial” use do you have in mind for the property?

A: Proposed development plans currently under consideration are: Reactivation of the existing

power house, general land clearance of above-grade structures, improvements to the existing ship

dock and shoreline with future “dry-dock” availability and the possibility of wind or solar-

powered bio-mass energy development. Generally, the establishment of multiple industrially

based business enterprises that would benefit from establishment of multiple industrial

enterprises that would benefit from rail, truck and water-based transportation needing large

tracks of land and warehousing.

Q: What is the initial work-plan for the property?

A: Remove any or all existing obsolete site structures in an economic and environmentally safe

procedure to accommodate a “new industrial community” of potential partners, leases or owners.

All the former mill structures may be targeted for demolition if redevelopment uses for the

existing structures are not found or conducive to reuse. We are underway now and with the

cooperation of government entities will continue until these goals are met or completed.

Q: What is your basic understanding of the environmental condition of the property?

A: The site largely consists of non-hazardous inert soils, foundry sand, lime, coal and former

wood-based products. Exhaustive investigation has been performed to assess the environmental

condition of the site. The information generated from these investigations has been evaluated and

no currently known litigation issues exist. Our investigative work revealed that the recent past

site owners sought to maintain a sound environmental approach regarding all environmental

concerns. Future operations will be conducted in a manner that adheres to applicable regulatory

standards.

Q: What are the deed and covenant restrictions on the property?

A: The restricted parcels may be used for industrial purposes only. Perspective clients are

informed of the restrictive elements and covenants as detailed in the deed. Potential business

partners are interviewed for financial ability to participate and based on the deed covenants will

need to be financially sound independent of banks.

Nearly the entire site was constructed with fill material and wood products for over 100 years.

Restricted areas are areas that the former owner desires to be controlled. These areas, although

contaminated, are not of a hazardous composition and based upon available environmental

records are within industrial criteria parameters. To insure governmental compliance and as

required within the covenants in these areas, Melching Inc. has retained the services of

Lakeshore Environmental Inc. Demolition in these areas will be carefully monitored and the

restrictions will be maintained.

Q: What is the overall message you have for the Muskegon community?

A: Our message is very simple and two-fold. We are currently in the process of renovating the

site and replacing the former mill with an economic development zone providing jobs for the

local Muskegon area not only in the short term which involves workers during the demolition

period of two years but also revitalizing the property for attraction of future business and jobs.

This is an excellent opportunity for both our company and future businesses coming on the site

to accomplish both these goals and we are very excited about that prospect.

Muskegon's new Sappi paper mill site owner has plans

for a 'new industrial community'

Published: Sunday, October 16, 2011, 6:20 AM Updated: Monday, October 17, 2011, 10:48 AM

By Dave Alexander | Muskegon Chronicle

http://www.mlive.com/business/west-

michigan/index.ssf/2011/10/muskegons_new_paper_mill_site.html

MUSKEGON — So much for grand ideas about a sprawling park. Or building condos and shops

along a boardwalk on the 119-acre former Sappi paper mill site that meanders alongside about a

mile of Muskegon Lake.

Even redeveloping the site for industrial use isn't a sure thing. The deed and purchase agreements

for the site that now belongs to a Nunica-based demolition company place major restrictions on

how the property can be used. And Muskegon City Attorney John Schrier said he believes those

restrictions hold true for anyone interested in purchasing the property in the future.

“The deed restrictions make it virtually impossible to develop or get bank financing for a sale as

it relates to the environmental issues,” Shrier told The Chronicle, after reviewing the documents.

None of that worries Doug Melching of Melching Inc. who paid $2.3 million for the property

and potentially could profit on the scrap value within the property's confines.

“Community leaders, public officials, lawyers and economic developers need to know that I

think outside the 'box,' " Melching said in an email to The Chronicle, in which he was asked

various questions.

Eye on industrial use

The vision is to create a “new industrial community” but the immediate task at hand will be to

demolish obsolete and unneeded buildings among the 1.1 million square feet of industrial

facilities.

If permits are secured, demolition could begin in November, Melching said, and it could take

two years.

The new owner of the site — a paper mill for more than 100 years until Sappi ceased operations

in 2009 — is confident there is a workable plan to move forward with industrial redevelopment.

“I have taken into account the risk associated with this project as I have always done and what I

have learned from similar past endeavors,” according to Melching, who has had years of

experience in taking down everything from the Muskegon Mall to industrial buildings on

polluted sites. “I will do what it takes to get the job done.”

The property was purchased solely by Melching Inc. on a cash basis with no mortgage involved.

And Melching will redevelop the site looking for financially sound partners to purchase or lease

portions of the site without bank financing, he said.

Challenges await

The Sappi property deed restrictions prohibit other uses beyond industrial including residential,

commercial, recreational and as park land, according to public documents. Those familiar with

Sappi Fine Paper and its South African ownership's sale of the property say the international

paper company structured the deal to protect itself from future environmental involvement and

liability.

Sappi spokeswoman Amy Olson said the former owners sought out a "responsible party" like

Melching in selling its Muskegon mill.

"In cases of brownfield development such as that at the Muskegon mill site, it is customary under

the circumstances to place limitations on land use to ensure that the property is deployed in the

most appropriate manner," Olson said.

Melching has a redevelopment team including Lakeshore Environmental Inc. of Grand Haven

and HarborPointe Realty of Nunica. Melching already has sought initial demolition permits from

the city for the property.

The local company is taking a completely different public posture than Sappi, which was

guarded in dealing with its mill facility. The new owner has scheduled a Friday morning “meet

and greet” for community leaders, public officials, economic developers and state legislators,

giving a group tour of the site.

Plenty of questions will be asked as Melching begins to engage the community.

“The city will work with Melching to assist the new owner with the vision of creating economic

development and job creation,” Muskegon Mayor Steve Warmington said. “However, based on

the opinion of the city attorney and a read of the deed restrictions it might be more difficult than

anyone would have hoped.”

But when it comes to the future of the Muskegon paper mill site, Warmington said the

community should be pleased that the property no longer owned by an out-of-town corporation.

Melching purchased the property Aug. 23.

“I'm glad we have local people involved who know and understand West Michigan,”

Warmington said.

Environmental questions

At the heart of the issues surrounding the Sappi site are the environmental legacy of so many

decades of paper making, especially those years before 1973 when the plant's wastewater began

to be sent to the Muskegon County treatment system.

The public documents involved in the property's sale includes a “disclosure of facility status” as

provided by Sappi under Michigan environmental law.

The disclosure lists the hazardous substances known to be present on the property to include:

“gasoline, diesel, fuel oil and other petroleum … PCBs … acids, sodium hydroxide, sodium,

sulfates, lead and arsenic.” An industrial development expert told The Chronicle that the list of

hazardous materials would be expected at a paper mill.

Melching said that an investigation of the land by his company and an environmental consultant

shows that it consists mostly of “non-hazardous inert soils, foundry sand, lime, coal and former

wood-based products.” The land is basically fill material from the lumber and industrial eras, he

said.

“Exhaustive investigation has been performed to assess the environmental conditions of the

site,” Melching wrote. “The information generated from these investigations has been evaluated

and no current known litigation issues exist. Our investigative work revealed that (Sappi) sought

to maintain a sound environmental approach.”

The environmental covenants on the property include Melching's assumption of “all

environmental liabilities.”

“The foregoing shall apply to any condition or noncompliance with environmental law, including

any condition past, present or future, known or unknown, suspected or unsuspected,

contemplated or uncontemplated …,” according to the environmental covenants to the quit claim

deed signed by Melching.

Part of the covenants agreed to by Melching is an “indemnification” clause. Shrier said that legal

provision allows all environmental costs incurred by Sappi to be covered by Melching, even if

the company faces environmental regulator enforcement for past contamination.

The real estate sale documents restrict future development on the northside of Lakeshore Drive

for “industrial purposes.” The $2.3 million sale also included 10 properties on the southside of

Lakeshore Drive as the paper mill owned residential homes and land across the street from its

operations. These residential properties were sold without restrictions.

The public documents show that Melching also has agreed to certain restrictions on demolition

and excavation of the site. Those restrictions would hold for any future owner of the site,

according to the documents.

One small part of the property is restricted from demolition without the written approval of the

paper company. Another six small parcels on the paper mill property are restricted from

excavation below the surface without written approval of the paper company.

“All the former mill structures may be targeted for demolition if redevelopment uses for the

existing structures are not found or conducive for reuse,” Melching said in an email, adding that

demolition and environmental work will employ 50.

To that end, Melching has requested a demolition permit from the city of Muskegon. The

application dated Sept. 22 requests a “phased, partial demolition” with the first phase beginning

with the mill's caustic plant, digester building, bleach plant and removal of a specific machine.

Conflict with local law?

Warmington said that anyone doing demolition in the city must abide by a city ordinance

requiring all buildings being torn down to include removal and cleanup of underground

structures such as basements. The mayor wondered if the restrictive excavation covenants on the

property would allow Melching to meet city standards.

Although the paper mill property deed limits future redevelopment of the site to industrial uses,

there are plenty of parties interested in portions of the property, HarbourPointe Realty's Mike

Murphy said.

Melching said the paper mill site has an existing power house that could be recharged to produce

both electricity and steam, and a deep-port slip on Muskegon Lake for shipping activities. The

property is well-suited for wind, solar or bio-mass energy companies, the owner wrote.

The property is well-suited for logistics and warehousing operations, shipping and alternative

energy operations, according to Ed Garner, president of Muskegon Area First — the local

economic development agency.

“The types of uses that are being discussed for the property, I think, the public will not object

to,” Garner said, adding that whatever happens on the site will produce “hundreds not thousands”

of jobs. Sappi recently had 800 employees at a plant that had once employed 1,200.

Community leaders are interested in Melching's plans for the Sappi property because Lakeshore

Drive is one of two routes to Pere Marquette Park, the region's leading beach on Lake Michigan.

The plant also is on the edge of the city's Lakeside Neighborhood and its neighbors include Great

Lakes Marina, the Muskegon Country Club and Balcom's Cove condominiums.

To enhance the visual appeal of the property, community leaders are suggesting a “green buffer”

for the industrial site, while others are wondering if the city's Shoreline Trail can be taken off of

Lakeshore Drive and the bike path put on the paper mill land as is the case with other Muskegon

Lake properties, Garner said.

However, one of the deed covenants for the paper mill site states “access by the general public is

restricted or infrequent.”

Muskegon community leaders to tour the former Sappi

paper mill property Friday

Published: Tuesday, October 18, 2011, 2:30 PM

By Dave Alexander | Muskegon Chronicle

http://www.mlive.com/business/west-

michigan/index.ssf/2011/10/muskegon_community_leaders_to.html

MUSKEGON — There will be plenty of questions when community leaders and public officials

tour the former Sappi paper mill property on Muskegon Lake Friday morning.

A group of two dozen representatives from the city of Muskegon, Muskegon County, Muskegon

Lakeshore Chamber of Commerce and Muskegon Area First have been invited to the 119-acre

site that has nearly a mile of Muskegon Lake shoreline.

The industrial site was recently purchased for $2.3 million by Doug Melching of Melching Inc.

— a Nunica-based demolition and reclamation company. Melching has plans to create a “new

industrial center” on the property that had been a site of paper making for 109 years before the

South African paper company ended its Muskegon operations in 2009.

Community leaders and public officials have seen the deed restrictions that Sappi placed on the

property, which were agreed to by Melching. Those restrictions have been called uncommon and

some of the most restrictive seen on a local industrial property, according to Muskegon City

Attorney John Shrier.

The restrictions in the quit claim deed and associated covenants include:

• The property on the north side of Lakeshore Drive is limited to “industrial purposes” and

specifically excludes residential, recreation and park uses.

• One small parcel on the Sappi site has been restricted for demolition without prior approval of

Sappi Fine Paper.

• Six other separate, but small, portions of the site have been restricted for excavation below the

surface without prior approval of Sappi.

• Access to the site by the general public is “restricted or infrequent.”

• The new owner cannot apply for “brownfield” designation for the site, which would provide

tax-increment financing and potential governmental grants for environmental investigation and

cleanup.

• The new owner cannot prepare or submit a “baseline environmental assessment” — a basic

environmental study of past contamination and the property's current condition — to any

governmental agency.

• The new owner and any third party cannot conduct environmental testing, including sampling

of soils and groundwater.

• Environmental remediation and response activities required under environmental law by a

government agency shall be limited to achieving “the least stringent criteria applicable to the

property.”

• Any information regarding environmental liabilities of the property cannot be voluntarily

shared with government agencies unless required by law nor shared with third parties without

written permission of the paper company.

Many of the restrictions appear to be transferrable to subsequent owners beyond Melching. How

long deed restrictions remain on a property and with subsequent owners are complex legal

issues, economic developers say.

“The Friday tour will allow the group to meet first-hand with the new owners,” said Ed Garner,

president of Muskegon Area First — the local economic development agency. The tour was set

up through Melching's real estate agent — Mike Murphy of HarbourPointe Realty of Nunica —

Garner said.

“Mike knew that the community was very interested in the Sappi property, and he wanted to set

up a tour of the site through our agency,” Garner said. “We hope they can share what kinds of

proposals they have had for the site and a timetable for their activities.”

Melching purchased Sappi in August and has since made initial application to the city of

Muskegon for the first part of a phased demolition of the site.

Demolition could take two years, the new owner said. Melching has said demolition of obsolete

and unneeded buildings among the 1.1 million square feet of paper mill facilities could begin yet

this year with materials being recycled.

The plan is for industrial redevelopment of the site to create economic activity and jobs for the

community, he has said.

The Friday tour will include the area's state legislators and economic developers from the

Michigan Economic Development Corp., Garner said.

Former Sappi paper mill being re-developed (w/video)

Submitted by WZZM13, News Staff

Friday, October 21st, 2011, 5:06pm

http://muskegon.wzzm13.com/news/news/63111-former-sappi-paper-mill-being-re-

developed

Muskegon,MI (WZZM)- For the first time since it became the Sappi paper mill more than 100

years ago, our cameras were allowed inside the Muskegon plant.

The new owners of the former Muskegon paper mill are renovating the site for mixed industrial

use. The Sappi paper mill closed in 2009. Demolition has been going on at the 120-acre site ever

since. It was the owner of that demolition company, Doug Melching, that bought the land that

overlooks Muskegon Lake.

"It's in an area that is very beautiful and my intentions are to remove a lot of the stuff that isn't so

beautiful. But, at the same time, it will environmentally improve what it used to be."

The owner is looking at several options for the site, including aggregate storage, windmill

assembly, or bio-mass manufacturing for energy creation.

Interest high in Muskegon's former paper mill property

as community leaders tour the site (w/photos & video

tour of Sappi)

Published: Monday, October 24, 2011, 5:51 AM Updated: Monday, October 24, 2011, 2:12 PM

By Dave Alexander | Muskegon Chronicle

http://www.mlive.com/business/west-

michigan/index.ssf/2011/10/interest_high_in_muskegons_for.html

MUSKEGON — Community leaders touring of the former Sappi paper mill learned recently that

the vacant industrial facility's power plant might have a buyer.

An unnamed party has signed a “letter of intent” to purchase the 43-megawatt co-generation

plant that produces industrial-grade steam and electricity, said Mike Murphy, real estate agent

for new paper mill plant owner Doug Melching of Melching Inc., a Nunica-based demolition and

environmental cleanup company.

Sappi Fine Paper used coal and wood scraps to produce energy but the power plant has been

mothballed since industrial operations ended on the site in 2009.

If purchased, the new energy company would need about 25 power plant workers, Murphy said.

If the plant is not purchased, Melching will sell off the power equipment and bring it down, he

said.

Melching purchased the 119-acre site on Muskegon Lake in August for $2.3 million. Plans for

the site, with its nearly one mile of shoreline, is to demolish and recycle materials from obsolete

and unneeded buildings among the 1.1 million square feet of industrial space.

Plans are to subdivide the property for future industrial use to parties that would purchase, lease

or partner with the new owner.

Melching and his team of demolition, scrap, environmental and development experts from West

Michigan showed the property Friday to more than 75 public officials, economic developers and

interested business leaders. The new owners are opening up to the community as the former

South African corporation owners never did.

“I'm fully prepared to take this on and to do the right thing for this community,” Melching told

the community group. He said his goal is to create jobs and economic activity on a site that was

dedicated to papermaking for more than 100 years.

“I have a good team,” he told the group.

Besides the power plant, the Sappi site has a 250,000-square-foot warehouse building, a 45,000-

square foot office building that sits along Lakeshore Drive and a deep water port that the new

owner said he hopes to get permits to dredge to a depth of 26 feet. All are marketable assets,

Murphy said.

Murphy told the group of community leaders that since Melching purchased the property the

redevelopment team has been inundated with parties interested in the property. He said he is

working on developing four purchase agreements for various parts of the property.

The power plant was expanded and upgraded in 1988 and in many ways is state of art, Melching

said. He took a tour group to the top of the boiler building which has stunning views of

Muskegon Lake, the Muskegon Country Club, the Bluffton Bay marinas, Nugent Sand

operations, Harbour Towne and Lake Michigan on the western horizon.

“All you have to do is add power and this is ready to go,” Melching told a tour group from the

power house control room.

Deed restrictions on the property's future use, environmental testing and some excavation have

concerned some in the community wanting the property to become a regional asset.

“We believe the site is not as bad as some might believe,” Murphy said about the environmental

conditions.

Melching is working with environmental consultant Roman Wilson, president of Lakeshore

Environmental Inc. of Grand Haven. The two have teamed up in the past to tackle more difficult

industrial sites in the region, they said.

Also working for Melching is Ken Callow, the former Sappi production manager, who has

become the demolition company's project engineer.

“Sappi had been a pretty good citizen on environmental issues,” Callow said addressing the

company's continuing deed restrictions. “But now the phrase might be that going forward we are

not out looking for problems.”

Wilson said that he has been hired to make sure that environmental conditions on the site are

improved not worsened, and that state and federal environmental regulations are followed. He

said the Melching team has no indication that any environmental contaminants are leaching into

Muskegon Lake.

The community leaders — including city and county public officials and state legislators — said

they generally were encouraged by the Melching team presentation and tour of the site.

“It seems as if he is moving forward responsibly,” said state Rep. Marcia Hovey-Wright, the

Democratic legislator for a district that includes the paper mill. “The focus is on local jobs. They

seem to be environmentally responsible. It's all seems to be good.”

Those who had never been in the Muskegon mill said they were impressed by its size. They saw

the 600-foot long vacant space on the shop floor where paper machine No. 5 once produced

coated paper for the publishing industry. The huge machine was dismantled and shipped to a

Mexican papermaker.

The group also saw part of the 80,000-square-foot warehouse that was built in 1998. The original

section of the plant dates back to 1899.

“There's a lot of square footage here,” said Kevin Donavon, president of Muskegon

Construction Co., who was on his first tour of the mill. “You could do anything in here. It is

staggering, the physical plant here.”

Melching has an asbestos removal crew working in the plant and his own crew stripping out

unneeded copper wire. There are about 15 people working in the building, but when demolition

begins on site that will increase to 100 jobs, company officials have said.

Melching said Padnos Iron and Metal of Holland, which has operations in Muskegon, is a partner

in the recycling work.

“I know Doug, he can handle this job,” said Muskegon County Commissioner Alan Jager, who

owns and operates a demolition company in Holton.

After Melching's presentation, Muskegon County Board Vice Chairman John Snider and

Muskegon Mayor Steve Warmington said the community must rally around the West Michigan

businessman.

“As a community, we need to support his efforts totally,” Snider said. “We need to get behind his

efforts in the short term. Hopefully, this site can add to the stream going out to our wastewater

system.”

Besides the lost jobs — a few hundred at the end but from 800-1,200 over the course of decades

— Sappi was the largest user of the Muskegon County Wastewater Management System and

accounted for half of the flow in the system at the height of the mill operations. The county is

looking to increase wastewater flow to keep rate increases down for the remaining users.

“I think we have to embrace this project as they have presented it, one opportunity at a time,”

Warmington said. “We have to do the best we can for the community and to generate jobs out

here.”

Former Sappi paper mill workers recall the hard work,

long hours, good pay ... and the food

Published: Sunday, December 04, 2011, 6:03 AM

By Dave Alexander | Muskegon Chronicle

http://www.mlive.com/business/west-

michigan/index.ssf/2011/12/former_sappi_paper_mill_worker.html

MUSKEGON — Bring five former Sappi paper mill workers together and the conversation

eventually will drift to food.

The discussion usually focuses on how the meals were cooked in the various departments of the

hulking paper mill on Muskegon Lake that now faces demolition.

There are memories of old Mill Inn dinners brought into the manufacturing plant through a hole

in a fence from across Lakeshore Drive. Someone remembers breakfasts cooked by Jim Puckett

that he sold to plant employees every morning with the mill manager being a customer.

And then there were the stories about Curly Taylor, who was known for his “U.S. 31 stew.” If it

was found dead on the side of U.S. 31 as Taylor made his way to work, it ended up in the stew,

they said.

So what's all this food talk about as the five workers walk through the cavernous, 1 million

square-foot-plus facility at 2400 Lakeshore Drive that was home to thousands of paper makers

for 109 years?

The former Sappi workers said those employed at the paper mill were family. And it was a large

family with a peak employment in the 1970s of more than 1,200 workers.

The bonds forged by back-breaking industrial work and exhausting double-shifts established

lifelong relationships in the plant that evolved from Central Paper Co. to S.D. Warren Co. and,

finally, Sappi Fine Paper.

And when families gather, food — or the talk of it — is shared.

“We were cooking down here all of the time,” explained Lyle Robbins, who left the plant the last

day of operations in 2009 after 35 years of service. His father, Lyle Sr., and grandfather, Merlin

Wright, worked in the plant.

“If you came for a shift and your relief didn't show up, you had a 16-hour day,” Robbins said.

The mill operated 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. “You could live here for a

whole week … and some did,” he said.

Robbins was among five former Sappi mill workers who toured the plant late last month with

The Muskegon Chronicle.

Some workers had wanted to take a last look at their former workspace when the industrial

facility was still owned by Sappi — the South African paper company with North American

headquarters in Boston. Sappi officials in Boston denied the tour and any media access to the

mill property.

That all changed in August when Melching Inc. of Nunica purchased 119-acre site with nearly a

mile of Muskegon Lake waterfront for $2.3 million.

New owner Doug Melching of Fruitport welcomed the former mill workers back into the plant

before major demolition begins. The tour was conducted by former mill engineer Ken Callow,

who remained onsite with Sappi while the plant was for sale. Callow now continues with the

facility as Melching's project engineer.

The workers' tour was an emotional experience, beginning as they walked into the finishing

department devoid of not only workers but of all equipment. Much of the paper mill's machines

were sold in a Sappi auction in December 2010.

“This is so sad,” said Steve Belmarez as he walked into plant for the first time since he took a

2004 severance package during a major layoff. “This place bought a lot of homes and raised a lot

of families in this town.

“It's amazing,” he said while shooting pictures of the vacant industrial space on his cell phone.

The emotion of the workers walking through the sprawling plant goes to the nature of the work

and relationships in the mill over the decades, they said. They talked of family bonds.

“Here, people really took care of each other,” said Steve Keglovitz, who began working in the

plant in 1986 and left in 2005 on disability.

“If you were on swing shifts, you worked three weekends a month,” Keglovitz said. He was

president of the mill's union when it was PACE Local 1015. “You'd lose touch with friends

working like that. So when we hung out, we hung out with each other.”

The former mill employees joined company bowling leagues and had softball teams. Families

came together at company picnics, the men said. The guys gathered at the nearby Marine Tap

Room for a beer after shifts, be that at 7 p.m. or 7 a.m.

The workers fondly remembered the years prior to 1994 when the company was owned by Scott

Paper, when company management and union employees worked hand-in-hand in the

community as volunteers.

“Muskegon lost a lot of money when this plant went down,” Evans said. The loss was more than

wages and contracts for West Michigan industrial suppliers. “It lost a lot of people who gave and

served in the community.”

There were no typical work weeks at the Muskegon mill. There were three eight-hour shifts and

workers moved around in the work schedule. The system provided plenty of overtime with big

money offered to those who would work holidays, they said.

Callow explained that paper mills are such capital-intensive enterprises — paper machines cost

hundreds of millions of dollars and new mills having price tags over $1 billion — that the

machines could never shut down.

“Every down time was so expensive … that is time driven by economics,” Callow said. A

malfunction that could take three to eight hours to bring the paper machine back to production

could cost the company hundreds of thousands of dollars.

A lost hour of production on the huge Paper Machine No. 5 could cost the company $85,000,

workers said they were told.

A work week might be 44 hours, or it could be 48, 52 , 60 or more hours, they said.

“There was no such thing as a 40-hour week down here,” said Mark Evans, 53, who had worked

28 years in the mill as an operator until it closed.

Such a pace of work was hard on marriages and relationships. Keglovitz said spouses would

become suspicious of the odd hours and drive by the plant just to make sure their mates' cars

were in the parking lot, he said.

“People gave up a lot of stuff to work here,” Keglovitz said. Workers had the money for all of

the toys of life — boats, motorcycles, campers and northern cottages — but never enough time to

enjoy them.

“I remember driving back from our lake property up north, leaving when everyone was there

enjoying the SeaDoo and cooking out,” Keglovitz said. “I was going back home to go to bed so I

could get up and go to work.”

And the labor was physical and, most of the time, monotonous, the former workers said. The

coated, publishing-grade paper came off the machines and was put on huge rolls that workers

moved throughout the processing and shipping departments.

Mechanics and operators that worked within the electric- and steam-powered paper machines

worked at the risk of life and limb. And it could be hot, up to 130 degrees in the confined spaces

under the machine where work had to be performed, they said.

“That no one was killed on this machine over the years is amazing,” Keglovitz said looking at

the 600-foot long vacant space that once housed Paper Machine No. 5 — the pride of the

company, which produced paper from wet pulp to dry product in one continuous operation.

Sappi sold Paper Machine No. 5 to a company that dismantled it and trucked it piece-by-piece to

Mexico for assembly, Callow said. “I cried when I saw them haul out No. 5,” Keglovitz said.

Although no one was killed in the plant, there were injuries over the years, some of them serious.

Robbins is missing part of the middle finger on his left hand that was caught in a chain on one

shift in the plant, he said. And Keglovitz limped through the mill, hobbled by job-related back

and joint issues.

But they said they aren't looking for sympathy. They enjoyed the top industrial jobs in Muskegon

County when the plant was in operation.

“When I got a job at the mill, I felt like I hit the lottery,” said Keglovitz, who also had worked at

CWC Textron in a foundry and for Shaw-Walker Co. making office furniture.

The paper mill jobs were the most highly sought industrial jobs in Muskegon County. Pay was at

the top, benefits were generous and overtime provide financial resources that high-school

graduates could never have anticipated.

At a union bargaining session in recent years, union leaders found that the average wage at the

plant for its members was $58,000 and the average production worker put in 60 hours a week.

By 2005, Sappi told local officials that the average plant wage was $70,000 when engineering

and management positions were calculated.

As the tour progressed, Callow allowed the workers to linger in areas of the plant. They stopped

to look through the drawers in the water system testing and laboratory room, where several had

worked. Belmarez was able to sit down in his old desk chair for the last time.

But it was the vacant space left by the scrapping of Paper Machine No. 4 that stunned Evans.

“You're killing me, you're killing me,” Evans said as Callow told of the old machine's fate.

“I knew every screw on that machine,” Evans said staring into the void that was once No. 4. “I

must have turned everyone one of them at least once.”

As the former mill workers concluded their tour of the plant, demolition workers were stripping

miles and miles of electrical lines for recycling of the copper while others began dismantling the

tanks and out buildings.

The five former paper workers came to one conclusion: What ever Melching does with the mill

property, it should remain an industrial use.

“This needs to stay industrial,” Belmarez said. “We need those jobs.”

Going to waste: Muskegon seeks industrial users for

wastewater facility

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

By Kym Reinstadler | MiBiz

www.mibiz.com/news/agribiz/19122-going-to-waste-muskegon-seeks-industrial-users-

for-wastewater-facility.html

MUSKEGON — Jonathan Seyferth has returned home to Muskegon County to look for dirty

work. Lots of it.

Seyferth, 33, joined Muskegon Area First in October as business development manager. His

primary charge: increase flow to the county’s wastewater management system, where average

daily flow dipped to 28 percent of capacity in 2010.

Muskegon County commissioners hiked sewage treatment rates 45 cents per 1,000 gallons in

September. Attracting more industrial users would make the system more efficient and could

prevent future rate increases, said Ed Garner of Muskegon Area First.

Attracting new business users to the area is Muskegon Area First’s preferred way of increasing

flow through the system because that would also result in bringing in new jobs to the area,

Garner said.

As recently as 1996, the 11,000-acre ground filtration site straddling Moorland and Egelston

townships was operating at 75 percent of capacity. Since then, Muskegon County’s primary

wastewater producer, Sappi Paper, has ceased operations locally, leaving the facility woefully

under-used.

“There’s no silver bullet out there,” said Seyferth, whose family has been prominent in

Muskegon County’s business community for three generations. “There aren’t many businesses

that use as much water as a paper company.

“But,” Seyferth continued, “the cleaning process we use is really suitable and marketable to a lot

of different industries. A combination of different things will probably be the ticket, although it

will take time.”

The county may have to look farther afield if the facility is to achieve 100-percent utilization of

its capacity because so many commercial and industrial users have taken “green” steps to reduce

consumption and to reuse water, he said.

“The system really could go regional because its capacity is so large,” Garner said.

Because of the facility’s close proximity to U.S. 31 and M-46, Seyferth considers the facility

convenient to West Michigan food producers who may want to truck in wastewater.

The excess capacity could come in useful since some West Michigan communities are

approaching capacity of their water treatment plants. It might prove to be more cost-effective to

extend the lines to Muskegon or to truck or ship wastewater there than building new facilities in

the communities themselves, Garner said.

It is also possible that sewage could be transported for treatment by boat, because Muskegon is

the deepest water port along Lake Michigan’s Michigan shore, Garner said.

Coincidentally, the former Sappi site does have a dock on Muskegon Lake. Melching Inc., a

Nunica-based demolition company, now owns the 119-acre former mill site. The company has

hopes of redeveloping that site for industrial use, since residential and commercial development

is unlikely due to environmental issues related to the century-long paper mill operations at the

site. According to published reports, Melching plans to market the site for industrial uses.

About 70 percent of Muskegon County residences and businesses are already using the

wastewater system, which ranks among the most economical in the state, even after the rate hike

this fall. Some non-users are in rural areas too remote to make hooking up affordable.

Seyferth devoted his first two months on the job to studying the problem and developing

marketing strategies to lure additional users.

A committee of Muskegon County Wastewater Management System users will take December to

review and give input to the plan. Seyferth expects to present a synthesized marketing plan to

members of the Muskegon County commission in January.

Seyferth is reluctant to share specifics before his plan benefits from the internal vetting process,

but he disclosed that Muskegon Area First has already done a direct mailing touting the system

to food processing companies.

He’s also working with the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Michigan State University

Product Center to explore what it would take to establish the site as an Agriculture Renaissance

Zone, which would allow new agribusinesses to operate there tax-free for a period of time.

The massive system, which began operations in 1973, is unique in its effectiveness at filtering

biological debris without diminishing the oxygen content, Seyferth said.

It includes aeration and settling basins, holding ponds and cropland. Gray water is used to

irrigate the corn, alfalfa and hay fields on the site during the growing season. The county sells

the crops as livestock feed to offset energy costs of the operation.

Cleansed water is returned to Muskegon Lake or Lake Michigan.

The West Michigan city of Hart uses a similar wastewater treatment process, but on a much

smaller scale, Seyferth said.

Viewpoint: Industrial firms that pollute our community

should pay for the cleanup

Published: Friday, December 30, 2011, 6:05 AM

By The Muskegon Chronicle

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By Sean Mullally

http://www.lakenews.com/News.asp?ID=F8F74F73-F546-47BA-BA46-

B7DB0EFAA764&SiteID=MI022

Muskegon’s history as an industrial powerhouse helped build this community and give economic

security to generations of local families, but it also left us with a toxic legacy of polluted soil and

lakes. During my years on the board of the Alliance for the Great Lakes, these toxic hot spots

were always a top concern. Fortunately, in recent years significant progress has been made in

remedying this pollution. As recently reported by The Muskegon Chronicle, an extensive

cleanup of contaminated sediment in Muskegon Lake’s Division Street outfall is reaching

completion. Our community has also benefited from the cleanup of other sites, Muskegon’s

Ruddiman Creek and the former tannery property on White Lake to name just two.

We can be proud of this progress, but the job is far from finished. Industrial contamination

remains a problem in other places like the former Zephyr Oil tank farm on M-120 in Muskegon

Township, which continues to seep toxic pollutants into Muskegon River and Bear Creek. The

Michigan Department of Environmental Quality worsened the situation several months ago by

deciding to shut off numerous recovery wells that had been preventing the pollution from

spreading. But there is good news. The two legislators representing Muskegon Township,

Democratic State Rep. Marcia Hovey-Wright, and Republican State Sen. Goeff Hansen, have

found an area of bipartisan agreement and tentatively secured at least $6 million to start cleaning

up the Zephyr site.

Our legislators should be commended for their attention to the Zephyr contamination, but I

would also ask for their attention on another pollution problem nearby in Laketon Township. For

years, Bear Lake has been being fouled as petroleum has slowly but steadily dribbled up from an

abandoned well in nearby Fenner’s ditch. The contaminants have also seeped into nearby

residents’ well water. This has been a well-known and unaddressed problem for years. I would

ask our legislators to take a close look at the ongoing Fenner’s ditch leak and take action to

finally stop it.

Each of these contaminated sites has been an albatross around the neck of our community, and

each is well worth the effort it has taken, or will take, to clean them up. But it is not cheap. These

actions are costing taxpayers millions of dollars, while sometimes the polluters aren’t paying a

penny.

We’ve learned some lessons from these experiences. We now regulate our industries much better

to prevent the worst soil and water contamination before it happens. But one lesson we are still

struggling with is holding polluters accountable when pollution does occur. Too often we’ve let

them shove expensive cleanup cost on to taxpayers. We need stronger “polluter pays” laws to

recover cleanup costs from those responsible. Sometimes this is difficult. If decades have past,

companies may have disappeared and prior owners passed away.

Sometimes however it’s easier to find the responsible party. This brings me to recent sale of the

Sappi property on Muskegon Lake’s southern shoreline. The Sappi corporation sold its former

paper mill under some very unusual terms. Sappi placed several restrictive covenants into the

deed that legally prohibit the new owner (and presumably any future owners) from conducting

environmental testing of soil and water on the property, from sharing information they might

have about contamination with government agencies, and from engaging in, or allowing others to

engage in, cleanup efforts to remove contamination. Sappi’s motivation seems clear. If it can

create legal roadblocks to future cleanup efforts, that reduces the chance of someone eventually

chasing them down to pay for it.

Restrictive covenants have a shameful past. They were one of the legal instruments used to

enforce housing segregation. Restrictive covenants were placed on real estate deeds to prevent

new homeowners from reselling to people of certain ethnicities or religions. Our government

rightly struck down such restrictions as morally repugnant. I would suggest that Sappi’s deed

restrictions preventing environmental testing and cleanup are also repugnant and should be

struck down as well.

The new owner of the mill property is a local businessman who seems to have the experience

and intention to redevelop this property responsibly. Our laws and regulations should empower

him to do so, not legally shackle him to the last wishes of a prior owner whose only remaining

interest in this community is dodging environmental responsibility. Our elected representatives

should void Sappi’s deed restrictions, with new legislation if necessary, and immediately push

for a full environmental survey of the mill property.

We can’t know what pollution a century of paper making did or didn’t leave along this mile of

Muskegon Lake’s shoreline unless we look. But if contamination is found, it should be

thoroughly cleaned up today at Sappi’s expense, not decades into the future by taxpayers.

Sappi knowingly bought the environmental responsibility for this site when it bought S.D.

Warren. That was part of the deal, and the company shouldn’t be allowed to sweep it under the

rug now. The company has chosen to leave our community, but this is our home and we have a

right to insist the company leave it clean.

Sean Mullally lives in Laketon Township.

Plans are developing for new Muskegon industrial park

on Muskegon Lake paper mill site

Published: Friday, January 13, 2012, 8:52 AM Updated: Friday, January 13, 2012, 10:39 AM

By Dave Alexander | Muskegon Chronicle

www.mlive.com/business/west-

michigan/index.ssf/2012/01/plans_are_developing_for_new_m.html

MUSKEGON — A group of Lakeside Neighborhood residents got the first look this week at the

proposed Muskegon Lakeshore Industrial Park on the former paper mill property.

The industrial center with deep-port access to Lake Michigan would be a continuation of the

manufacturing history of the property that began with Central Paper Co. in 1899 through the $2.3

million sale of the site by Sappi Fine Paper in 2011.

New owner Melching Inc. of Nunica has hired Triangle Associates of Grand Rapids — a design

and construction company — to create a master plan for redevelopment of the 123-acre site with

nearly a mile of Muskegon Lake shoreline.

Triangle Chairman and CEO Craig Datema gave about 60 members of the Lakeside

Neighborhood Association a look at a preliminary site plan for the paper mill property. Melching

is currently reviewing its concepts with city officials in hopes of presenting a site plan to the

Muskegon Planning Commission in February, company and city officials said.

The initial conceptual plan for the critical waterfront property received mixed reviews from the

neighbors.

Some wanted to see a mixed-use commercial/residential development or removal of the huge

industrial complex and an environmentally cleaned site left vacant. Others applauded the

continued industrial use of the property in hopes of creating jobs that would replace the paper

mill employment, which had been more than 1,000 employees as recently as 30 years ago.

What Lakeside residents saw was a mixed use of industrial and port facilities with a majority of

the paper mill being removed and allowing for new uses. Melching and future users are restricted

by Sappi-required provisions in the deed keeping the site industrial, which is the current city

zoning on the land.

“This is a preliminary plan; This plan will change,” Datema said, not handing out a copy of the

site plan shown to the neighborhood group. But nonindustrial use of the property is not an option

at this time, he emphasized.

“After trying to sell condos next door at Balcom's Cove, I can tell you condos won't work … we

just can't do it,” said Datema, whose Triangle Construction Co. built the Balcom's Cove condo

towers just west of the paper mill site. A licensed architect, Datema said he owns one of the

condos in Balcom's Cove.

Starting on the west end of the property, which had been used for decades as the wood storage

lot for the paper mill, the Melching plan calls for construction rock and sand storage to be

shipped by road, rail and boat.

The initial plan shows deep-water docking along the entire shoreline of the property and two

specific freighter docks extending into the property. One dock is existing but would be enlarged

and another was historically on the property but filled over the years, Datema said.

Moving to the central portion of the property, the plan calls for the mill's power plant to be

retained and operated by a new owner. Next to the power plant, a portion of the mill would be

kept for bio-fuels operations that could be developed in conjunction with the power plant, which

the paper company used to produce both electricity and steam.

At the mid-point of the property along the waterfront, a chemical storage site is shown,

potentially for a liquid asphalt terminal. Next to the chemical storage facility would be a metal

recycling area with port access.

Toward Lakeshore Drive and on the east end of the current paper mill, a warehousing facility of

about 270,000 square feet would be preserved, the initial plan shows. That plan also shows the

old, three-story historic paper mill office building along Lakeshore Drive would remain.

On the far east end of the property, initial plans show the vacant area available for

manufacturing.

The property, which would be divided into various parcels and sold to separate owners, would be

tied together with a new road. The plan shows the road entering the property from Lakeshore

Drive at the paper mill's main entrance on the east and going down the middle of the property to

exit back to Lakeshore Drive on the west where the wood operations were located.

The property owner and the city would need to determine whether the road would be private or

public, Datema said. Taking the city's Lakeshore Trail pathway on to the property is not a good

mix with the industrial use, Datema said.

Datema said that Melching will limit access to the site to existing “curb cuts” from Lakeshore

Drive to limit traffic congestion. Residents told the new owner that traffic on Lakeshore Drive

and other roads through the Lakeside Neighborhood generated from the new industrial center is a

major concern.

The first look at the initial master plan for the property raised many questions and concerns from

neighbors.

“What you are talking about right here, I don't like,” one unidentified resident told the Melching

group.

Muskegon Mayor Steve Warmington was at the neighborhood meeting and cautioned residents

that nothing has been decided by city officials. He praised the new owner and Triangle for

reaching out to neighbors before completing a final plan for submission to city planners.

“We all are not going to agree with what is going to go on down there,” Warmington said of the

historic mill site. Warmington owns the Marine Tap Room in the Lakeside Business District, just

east of the mill site.

“This is not going to be a cakewalk for the owner to do all what he wants,” Warmington said of

company President Doug Melching. “I already have had disagreements with Doug over elements

in the plan.”

Datema told the neighborhood group that the eventual end users of the property will not include

Melching, who runs a demolition company that is on site beginning to remove portions of the

mill.

“We will minimize any impacts of the property,” Datema said. “Any new user has to be a good

neighbor.”

For some, being a good neighbor will mean “zero” noise, dust, pollution and additional traffic,

one resident told Datema and Melching.

Mark Evans, a former Sappi employee and member of the Muskegon Lake Watershed

Partnership, encouraged Triangle to expand the “buffer zones” along Muskegon Lake. Evans

said he wants the plan to give as much space to native plants, fish and wildlife as possible and

provide views of Muskegon Lake from Lakeshore Drive.

All of the Lakeside Neighborhood Association members were concerned about the

environmental condition of the property. Detama said there are concerns in some specific areas

and they will be left alone in the demolition and redevelopment, while Lakeshore Environmental

Inc. of Grand Haven continues testing on the site.

“This is not a Superfund site,” Datema said, referring to the federal designation for the nation's

worst environmentally-contaminated properties. “After 100 years of operations, you'd be amazed

at how little we are finding.”

While some residents were not happy with the initial plans for an industrial center, other

members of the Lakeside Neighborhood said the community needs the jobs that could be created

on the site. Datema estimated the property could generate $100 million in new investment in the

coming years.

“I look forward to you being my neighbor,” Lakeside resident Bill Schaefer told Melching,

adding that the neighborhood had been home to many of the paper mill workers and the residents

are accustomed to an industrial use of the lakefront. “Maybe we can get some jobs from this.”

Lakeside Neighborhood Association President Ellouise Hieftje said she was pleased that

Melching and his redevelopment team came to the neighbors first.

“People just want to know what is going on,” Hieftje said. “I think this is a great plan. This is

what we need.”

Datema reminded residents that Melching is restricted by the Sappi deed and that the land is

zoned for industrial use by the city. Muskegon's shoreline has historically been a port facility

with industrial use, he said.

The property continues to get great interest from a variety of investors and developers, Datema

said.

“None of the deals we have been talking to developers about are done,” Datema concluded. “We

are trying to come up with a plan that will make it all work together on this site.”

One resident told Datema: “Since you are in Balcom's Cove, we'd hope you'd put nothing on the

site that you didn't want to live next door to.”

Down she comes: New Muskegon paper mill owner

wants to blast smokestack (w/video)

Published: Friday, January 13, 2012, 11:35 AM Updated: Friday, January 13, 2012, 11:50 AM

By Dave Alexander | dalexan1@mlive.com

www.mlive.com/business/west-

michigan/index.ssf/2012/01/down_she_comes_new_muskegon_pa.html

MUSKEGON — For those who think progress in demolishing the former Sappi paper mill on

Muskegon Lake has been slow, have patience.

In a matter of weeks, property owner Doug Melching has plans for an event that will leave no

one wondering if the industrial plant is coming down.

The property's largest smokestack — an industrial icon for Muskegon — will come down in the

matter of seconds. Melching Inc., the demolition company from Nunica, has hired a world expert

demolition explosives company to bring down the nearly 300-foot stack.

No doubt the work of Advanced Explosive Demolition from Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, will bring

about a huge interest from all over West Michigan. The company's plans will first get a review

from the Muskegon City Commission.

Muskegon City Manager Bryon Mazade said city officials have begun discussions with

Melching and his explosives contractor about razing the stack — a masonry structure that is 30

feet in diameter at its base, Melching said.

The plan is to explode the base of the paper mill stack in such a way as to have it tumble north to

the ground toward Muskegon Lake, Melching said. The stack is close to Lakeshore Drive, which

is to the south.

“We handle everything with extreme caution no matter what size the building,” AED President

Lisa Kelly said in a YouTube.com video of a demolition of a stack, which her company brought

down.

“Smokestacks are an easy structure to shoot,” Kelly said. “Silos can be tricky because they squat

but smokestacks most always fall.”

Melching said he hopes to have AED bring the Sappi stack down in the coming weeks. He first

needs “written approval” of the city of Muskegon.

The city's ordinance prohibits explosive demolitions unless there is written approval of the city,

Mazade said. When receiving Melching's request for the stack demolition, Mazade said he will

confer with city police, fire, public works and inspections officials.

Then a staff recommendation will go to the Muskegon City Commission for final approval,

Mazade said. The city manager said the process might take a while since issues such as the likely

closure of Lakeshore Drive for the blast need to be considered.

Melching said that AED is one of the foremost explosive demolition companies in the world.

Eric Kelly blasted his first smokestack at the age of 14 with his father. He took over AED in

1980 after being chief blaster for the company.

AED under Kelly's ownership has pursued the “highest and most hazardous” demolitions,

according to the company website. The company is the holder of several world record blasts.

It takes down everything from smokestacks and grain silos to hospitals, casinos and horse

racetracks. The company website shows it has successfully brought down stacks the size of the

one on the Sappi site, including a 715-foot stack in Kellogg, Idaho.

Melching is continuing what might be a two-year process of bringing down and recycling 75

percent of more than the 1 million square feet of industrial facilities. Work has begun on the back

side of the building, so little has been seen by the public driving by on Lakeshore Drive,

company officials said.

The site will be redeveloped as a waterfront industrial park with deep-port access. The

Muskegon Planning Commission is expected to review a master plan for the site in February.

AED Trips Sappi Bleach Building (video)

Uploaded by thedabbler1 on Jan 17, 2012

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOMgbiW4gK4&feature=fvst

Sappi smokestack may be demolished (w/video)

Submitted by Amy Fox, WZZM Executive Producer

Monday, January 23rd, 2012, 2:17pm

muskegon.wzzm13.com/news/news/65909-sappi-smokestack-may-be-demolished

MUSKEGON, Mich. (WZZM) - The new owners of Muskegon's old Sappi Paper Mill want to

demolish the mill's smokestack.

Melching, Inc., based in Nunica, bought the closed paper mill in 2011. The mill closed in 2009.

Melching is asking Muskegon city commissioners for permission to demolish the smokestack.

The commissioners will consider a "use of explosives" permit at a Tuesday night meeting.

If the permit is granted, the company plans to move forward quickly with plans to demolish the

stack.

The smokestack is 280 feet tall.

The 120 acre site on Lake Michigan is being renovated for mixed industrial use.

Muskegon City Commission asked to give permission to

blow up Sappi stack

Published: Monday, January 23, 2012, 8:55 AM Updated: Monday, January 23, 2012, 2:58 PM

By Dave Alexander | dalexan1@mlive.com

www.mlive.com/news/muskegon/index.ssf/2012/01/muskegon_city_commission_asked.

html

MUSKEGON — The new owners of the Muskegon paper mill have asked the city of Muskegon

for permission to use explosives to bring down a 280-foot smokestack and a bleach plant

building on the mill property.

The city's demolition ordinance prohibits buildings and structures to be brought down with

explosives unless such plans receive written permission of the city. City Manager Bryon Mazade

will go to the Muskegon City Commission Tuesday to receive the authority to grant Melching

Inc. permission after a demolition plan is reviewed by city departments.

Melching told The Chronicle this month that his company has hired Advanced Explosives

Demolition from Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, to bring down the largest stack on the Muskegon

waterfront property. Melching has purchased the former Sappi Fine Paper mill property to

demolish a large portion of the huge facility and redevelop the property as an industrial center

with deep-water port access to the Great Lakes.

Melching said that the stack, which is 30 feet in diameter at its base, would fall toward

Muskegon Lake to the north. However, the stack is relatively close to Lakeshore Drive on the

south.

Melching indicated that he wanted AED to bring the stack down within the next few weeks.

Mazade said he didn't know how long it would take for a demolition plan to be approved. The

city's police, fire, public works and inspections departments would have to review and approve

the use of the explosives, the city manager had said.

According to Melching and the company's website, AED is an internationally-known demolition

explosives company which has taken down dozens of similar stacks.

City commissioners will hear about the Sappi demolition project at their Tuesday meeting.

Commissioners will meet at 5:30 p.m. in the commission chambers of Muskegon City Hall, 933

Terrace. The meeting is open to the public, and citizens can address commissioners on any topic.

Also on the busy commission agenda Tuesday is a payment in lieu of taxes request from the new

owners of the Bayview Tower low-income, senior citizens complex. The request is to extend the

tax break and payment for city services for another 40 years, which will take an amendment to

city ordinances.

Commissioners also will consider a resolution of support for the North Bank Trail acquisition

funding plan. Crockery Township has asked for support for its Michigan Natural Resources Trust

Fund grant application that would turn an old railroad bed into a bike path.

Tuesday's commission agenda also includes a change in precinct boundaries for the city's 14

polling places, due to changes found in the 2010 U.S. Census. Such changes also would alter the

layout of the city commission's wards in future elections.

Finally, the city commission will consider refinancing bonds from its Local Development

Finance Authority that had been sold to support construction of the Grand Valley State

University Michigan Alternative and Renewable Energy Center on Muskegon Lake. More

favorable bond rates are now available, providing the city a potential savings in bond payments,

city officials indicate.

Muskegon City Council Meeting (1/24/12) (video)

http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/19985048

http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/19985048/highlight/235586

Melching and explosives company want to bring down

Sappi stack Sunday morning

Published: Tuesday, January 24, 2012, 7:59 PM Updated: Wednesday, January 25, 2012, 10:32 AM

By Dave Alexander | Muskegon Chronicle

www.lakenews.com/News.asp?ID=145B61B9-4691-4F12-BD14-

F1545C0FA6CF&SiteID=MI022

MUSKEGON – Pending final city of Muskegon approval, Melching Inc. and its internationally-

renowned explosive demolition contractor plan to bring down the Sappi paper mill smokestack

this Sunday morning.

The Muskegon City Commission voted 6-1 Tuesday evening to authorize staff to approve the

demolition of the 250-foot stack if city departments sign off on the details. City ordinance does

not allow demolition by explosives unless with written city approval.

Muskegon City Manager Bryon Mazade was non-committal after the commission vote. He said

he was not yet prepared to approve the smokestack blast and was unable to say if approval would

be granted before this Sunday.

Owners of Advanced Explosive Demolition of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho provided city

commissioners with details of the blast plan, which would “lay” the 30-foot diameter stack on

the ground to the north toward Muskegon Lake. Along with the stack, AED and Melching are

asking for permission to use explosives to bring down a six-story tall, 50,000-square-foot former

bleach plant that sits between the main paper mill facility and the lakeshore.

AED plans for a 9 or 10 a.m. explosion when it would be the least disruptive to the community,

company President Lisa Kelly told The Chronicle. Lakeshore Drive from Cottage Grove to

McCracken Avenue would be closed for about 15 minutes prior to the blast to 15 minutes after.

The event, whenever it occurs, will provide quite a public spectacle. AED and property owner

Melching will have a VIP viewing area along with one for the media. The public will have plenty

of opportunity to view the demolition with the Cottage Grove launch ramp parking lot probably

one of the prime locations.

The regulations for a blast that will bring the stack to the ground in seconds calls for a 500-foot

security zone that no one will be able to be within and another 750-security zone in which the

public must be behind, AED officials said.

“If this blast did take the stack in the wrong direction there is a 300-foot zone that it would fall

into,” property owner Doug Melching told commissioners. But it would not reach Lakeshore

Drive, he said.

“But that’s not going to happen,” Melching assured the city commission.

“We believe that we have taken into consideration all of the wildest fears,” Kelly told

commissioners. “We’ve covered it all. Safety is always our top concern.”

Before Tuesday’s meeting, Mazade told The Chronicle that city officials from the police, fire,

inspections and public works departments are reviewing the detailed AED plans. Concerns

include potential damage to underground utilities, the transportation and storage of the

explosives, the safety zone and closure of Lakeshore Drive among other items, Mazade said.

“We are not through all of the issues yet,” Mazade said.

The concern of a group of Occupy Muskegon members was for the potential of pollution coming

from the 109-year-old industrial facility that could get into Muskegon Lake or the air. Melching

purchased the vacant industrial plant last year and has begun demolition with hopes of creating a

lakefront industrial center with deep-port access to the Great Lakes.

Kelly told the Occupy Muskegon members and city officials that the smokestack that vented the

paper mill’s old boilers has been cleaned and contains no hazardous materials.

“This is the safest way of bringing down the stack without hurting anyone,” Kelly said. “We

have cleaned the stack of contaminates.”

Occupy Muskegon member Dan Mills of North Muskegon told commissioners not to rely on the

opinions of the “experts” but go to the people to get approval. Mills didn’t say how such a

community consensus was to be determined.

Commissioner Willie German, Jr. was the only commission vote against granting approval for

the stack demolition at this time. He said after the meeting that back-up plans for potential

problems were not well defined by AED officials. He said he had concerns about environmental

issues surrounding the blast.

Muskegon Mayor Steve Warmington asking citizens to

be involved in their neighborhoods

Published: Wednesday, January 25, 2012, 6:00 AM Updated: Wednesday, January 25, 2012, 10:35 AM

By Dave Alexander | Muskegon Chronicle

www.mlive.com/news/muskegon/index.ssf/2012/01/mayor_steve_warmington_asking.ht

ml

MUSKEGON — When it comes to fighting urban violence and its causes, Muskegon Mayor Steve

Warmington will leave job creation, literacy initiatives, life skills training and youth mentoring to others.

But when it comes to rallying city residents to get to know their neighbors and to take care of each other,

Warmington is a crusader.

Beginning this year, Warmington is making the rounds to all of the city's neighborhood associations to

preach the gospel of being a good neighbor in hopes that alert and concerned citizens will stem crime and

make the city's streets safer.

“We need to do more for our young people, and that will take a lot of money,” Warmington told the

Nelson Neighborhood Improvement Association last week. “But through neighborhood awareness, it is

apparent that we, the residents in our community, need to be back involved in our neighborhoods.”

The days are over when residents never lock their doors at night and leave their keys in their cars'

ignitions, the mayor said. Gone, too, are the days when everyone on the block knew each other and

looked out for each others' children, he said.

“No longer are we living behind white picket fences but instead behind security fences because we want

our privacy and no one to steal our lawn furniture or grill,” Warmington said.

“We need to become friendly again,” Warmington told the Nelson association members, in a message he

has repeated at seven other neighborhood association meetings. Warmington has another five

neighborhood meetings, concluding March 19 with the Oakview and Sheldon Park association.

The message goes beyond being friendly, to challenging the associations and citizens to organize

neighborhood watch groups to work among themselves and with Muskegon's community policing

officers.

All of the Muskegon mayor's efforts go back to the 2010 shootings on the streets of mainly Muskegon

and Muskegon Heights, as young people took their anger and frustration out on each other. The violence

threatened everyone in the neighborhoods.

When the summer of 2011 began the same way, with shocking gunplay Memorial Day weekend at the

city's Pere Marquette Park on Lake Michigan, city officials, law enforcement and community leaders

joined forces to stem the violence. A Muskegon County Social Justice Commission of law enforcement

and ministers and Warmington's Mayor's Task Force of community leaders began to attack the problems.

The reduction of urban violence in the second half of 2011 is attributable to good police work in

apprehending the shooters, key community leaders reaching out to those participating in the violence and

efforts to work on the underlying social issues causing the violence, Warmington said.

Muskegon city officials also credited concerned and brave citizens stepping forward with information that

led to arrests and convictions of those involved in shootings.

That's why the city's revival of the Neighborhood Watch Program is at the heart of Warmington's message

to Muskegon's neighborhoods.

“Neighborhood Watch, Block Watch … Crime Watch — whatever the name, it's one of the most

effective and least costly ways to prevent crime and reduce fear,” according to the Washington D.C.-

based National Crime Prevention Council.

The city of Muskegon's encouragement for Neighborhood Watch programs is being organized through its

community policing unit and Denny Powers, the Muskegon Police Department's police-community

coordinator.

Neighborhood Watch programs will be designed to fit the needs of each block and the various

neighborhoods, Powers said. The mayor's visits are to gauge interest and collect names of those willing to

help organize the efforts, which will come in March.

“The whole thing is to get all of us to know our neighbors,” Powers told the Nelson Neighborhood group.

“You just need to be the neighborhood's eyes and ears.”

Powers told of a past rash of burglaries in the city's Sheldon and Oakview neighborhoods on the city's far

east side. Concerned neighbors went beyond a “watch” group to organize a “neighborhood patrol” in

conjunction with police, he said.

Within the first month of operation, the neighborhood patrols reduced burglaries in the neighborhood by

60 percent, Powers said.

The Third Street commercial area of the Nelson Neighborhood already has an organized block watch

group, said Greg Borgman — a Houston Street resident, neighborhood association board member and co-

captain of the watch group.

“We have been working on this, and we have established a block club,” Borgman said of the effort put

together with the help of Chris Drake, another Houston Street resident, association board member and city

firefighter.

Drake and Borgman said that after organizing a watch group in their part of the Nelson Neighborhood

they have begun working with residents in the Heritage Village area of Clay Avenue to establish a similar

group.

“This is something that needs to be expanded,” said Nelson association President William Parker. “Times

have changed in the neighborhood. This is a good thing for our residents.”

There is always a fear of retaliation for those that report crime and suspicious activity or provide a witness

statement for incidents like street shootings, according to Nelson Community Officer Mike Fort.

“If you see something happen, call 911 at the time,” Fort asked for the Nelson residents. “I can't do

something with it if I hear about it a month down the road.”

Powers said that those who are uncomfortable talking to a community police officer or even

calling 911 can still report information to authorities anonymously through the Muskegon Police

Department's blue “crime prevention card.” The cards are available at the Muskegon Post Office.

The basic report of a crime or suspicious activity can be mailed to police without identifying the

source of the information. Fort said that crime activity dealing with drugs will be shared with the

West Michigan Drug Enforcement Team, while burglaries or loitering crowds in a specific area

might activate the city's “neighborhood response team.”

The mayor made a final plea for cooperation this year in establishing Neighborhood Watch

groups. Currently, the city budget allows for community police officers, but with potential loss

of property tax revenues due to the closure of the Sappi paper mill and potentially the B.C. Cobb

power plant, police officer cutbacks might be needed in the coming years.

Warmington said he hopes to have the citizen watch programs operating while community police

officers are in the neighborhoods to assist.

“We hope to do this one block at a time,” Warmington said.

Former Muskegon paper mill smokestack demolition

still unsure for Sunday, property owner says

Published: Wednesday, January 25, 2012, 5:11 PM Updated: Thursday, January 26, 2012, 11:46 AM

By Dave Alexander | Muskegon Chronicle

www.lakenews.com/News.asp?ID=33C1042B-0C28-4461-95A9-

DD65658C9493&SiteID=MI022

MUSKEGON — Plans for a Sunday morning demolition of the 280-foot smokestack on the former

Muskegon paper mill property by explosive charges are still up in the air, the property's owner said late

Wednesday.

The Muskegon City Commission Tuesday gave authorization to city staff to approve blasting the stack to

the ground when all details with city departments are settled. Muskegon City Manager Bryon Mazade is

noncommittal as to whether the blast will be approved for Sunday morning as paper mill property owner

Melching Inc. and officials from Advanced Explosives Demolition hoped.

"There are some complications," property owner Doug Melching told The Muskegon Chronicle late

Wednesday afternoon. "I am not sure if it will happen Sunday."

There is no decision yet by city officials, but for the demolition to go forward mid-morning Sunday, a

final determination will need to be made by Thursday, Melching said.

The city has an extensive plan from the property owner and the Idaho-based AED, city officials have said.

That plan is being reviewed and discussed among the city's police, fire, inspections and public works

departments, Mazade has said.

The blast to bring down the stack was planned for Sunday morning to be the least disruptive to the

community, according to AED President Lisa Kelly. Lakeshore Drive in the direct vicinity of the paper

mill property would be closed for about a half-hour as the stack is brought down, AED officials have said.

The explosive demolition, which also will include the property's old bleach plant building, is expected to

draw the public to the Muskegon Lake property to view the event. Melching and AED will have a VIP

and media viewing section, company officials said. The public will be kept behind a 750-foot blast zone,

they said.

Date set for Sappi mill smokestack demolition (w/video)

12:29 AM, Jan 25, 2012

www.wzzm13.com/news/article/196200/14/Date-set-for-Sappi-mill-smokestack-demolition

MUSKEGON, Mich. (WZZM) -- The landscape of Muskegon will change this weekend now

that city leaders have approved the demolition of parts of the former Sappi paper mill.

Two structures, including the mill's 280-foot high smoke stack, will be brought down using

explosives. The old Sappi mill is on Lakeshore Drive, where it was built in 1899.

The Muskegon City Commission voted Tuesday to move ahead with the demolition, now set for

between 9-10 a.m. Sunday, January 29th.

There was some public concern over environmental hazards generated by the collapse of the

smoke-stack. Douglas Melching, who is president of the company tearing down the facility, says

the impact would be minimal.

"The site is a filled site, there's a lot of contamination out there, but it's all within industrial

guidelines," said Douglas Melching, president of Melching Demolition. "It's been filled for

hundreds of years with fill sand, various leftover materials from the paper mill, but all with a

non-hazardous consistency."

The smokestack is planned to fall towards Lake Michigan. The president of Melching

Demolition says every precaution is being made to ensure a safe demolition.

A portion of Lakeshore Drive will be closed for approximately a half hour between 9-10 a.m.

this Sunday morning for the implosion

Potential pollution concerns cause blast of former Sappi

smokestack to be delayed

Published: Thursday, January 26, 2012, 2:56 PM Updated: Thursday, January 26, 2012, 4:40 PM

By Dave Alexander | Muskegon Chronicle

www.mlive.com/news/muskegon/index.ssf/2012/01/potential_pollution_issues_cau.html

MUSKEGON — Blasting down the smokestack on the former Sappi paper mill property in

Muskegon has been delayed until spring or summer because “unknown contaminants” have been

discovered by the property's owner.

Doug Melching — president of Melching Inc., which owns the former industrial plant on Muskegon Lake

— wrote Muskegon city officials Thursday of the problems that have delayed removal of the 280-foot

stack with explosives. Melching had wanted to blast the stack Sunday morning.

“In the interest of public safety … we have decided to cancel our current schedule regarding the

demolition of the smokestack and additional blasting at the former Sappi mill site,” Melching

wrote Muskegon City Manager Bryon Mazade Thursday afternoon.

“During the process of our continuing analytical testing of substances and air monitoring, we

have discovered some previously unknown contaminants pertaining to the smokestack,”

Melching wrote. “Until we have fully investigated the regulatory requirements in the continued

process of handling abating, further testing and final disposition of such materials, we are

suspending demolition of the smokestack.”

Melching did not indicate the nature of the contaminants nor their location in the letter to

Mazade or in a conversation with The Chronicle. Melching did tell The Chronicle that his

demolition company will work with state environmental agencies to determine how to proceed.

“We still anticipate proceeding with our regular demolition agenda and will eventually need a

blasting permit this spring or summer from the city of Muskegon,” Melching wrote the city

manager.

Melching Inc. is a Nunica-based demolition company that is taking down a majority of the paper

mill facilities. Eventual plans are to create an industrial center on the 119-acre site with deep-

water port access to the Great Lakes.

The Muskegon City Commission voted 6-1 Tuesday to authorize Mazade and city staff to give

Melching permission to bring down the largest stack on the Muskegon Lake shoreline property

with explosives.

Permission was contingent on all details being reviewed and approved by the city's police, fire,

public works and inspection departments. City ordinances do not allow demolition by explosion

without written approval from the city.

“We had not determined that they were ready to proceed,” Mazade said of the city review as of

Thursday. “We will now continue to work with Melching on its request.”

Melching has hired Advanced Explosives Demolition from Idaho, an internationally-known

demolition company, to bring down the stack and a 50,000-square-foot paper mill bleach plant.

AED President Lisa Kelly told commissioners at Tuesday's meeting that there were no

environmental hazards involved in blasting the stack.

In public comments to the city commission, members of Occupy Muskegon — a local offshoot

of a national protest movement — raised questions concerning environmental issues from the

blast.

Muskegon Mayor Steve Warmington objects to

congressman's position on the S.S. Badger

Published: Saturday, January 28, 2012, 8:15 AM

By Dave Alexander | dalexan1@mlive.com

www.mlive.com/news/muskegon/index.ssf/2012/01/muskegon_mayor_steve_warmingto

_1.html

MUSKEGON — Congressman Bill Huizenga's position on the S.S. Badger's continued dumping

of coal ash into Lake Michigan does not reflect the opinion of his entire constituency, Muskegon

Mayor Steve Warmington said Friday.

Warmington reacted to Huizenga's comments to The Chronicle Editorial Board Thursday in

support of extending a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency permit for the Badger to continue

its disposal practices.

Huizenga, R-Zeeland, is supporting the Ludington-based Lake Michigan Carferry's attempt to

extend the EPA permit or secure congressional action to keep the Badger operating past the end

of this year when its current permit expires.

“It is our congressman who believes it is OK for coal ash to go into our lake,” Warmington said.

“He did not go up and down our shoreline to ask other waterfront communities whether they

agree.”

And for one, Warmington said he does not support the extension of the coal-dumping practice.

Huizenga's 2nd Congressional District runs the Lake Michigan shoreline from Holland to north

of Manistee, including both Ludington and Muskegon.

Warmington said his position on the Badger is not based on competitive issues surrounding the

Milwaukee-based Lake Express ferry, a competitor of the Badger that operates between

Muskegon and Milwaukee. The Badger operates between Ludington and Manitowoc, Wis.

“It is not a question of fairness to Lake Express,” Warmington said. “But it is a question of

fairness to the environment and Lake Michigan. I am speaking about the lake and about its water

quality.”

Chronicle attempts to reach Huizenga to respond to the Muskegon mayor's concerns were

unsuccessful late Friday afternoon.

Huizenga argued in an interview with Chronicle editors that the continued operation of the

Badger is critically important not only to Ludington but also to the entire region. Without solving

the historic coal-power ferry's fuel issues or receiving a new permit from federal regulators, the

Badger faces ending operations after the 2012 sailing season.

The first-term congressman argued that Lake Michigan Carferry is exploring alternatives such as

the conversion of the Badger to compressed natural gas. All efforts to find an immediate and

reasonable solutios that would allow for continued operations have been unsuccessful, Huizenga

said.

Huizenga told The Chronicle that the EPA ban on continued dumping of coal ash in the lake is

like a “government taking,” in which what was once a legal activity was changed to the

disadvantage of the private ferry service.

Warmington said he doesn't buy that argument.

“The congressman loses the fact that it is not private property but the public waterway where

they are discharging the coal ash,” Warmington said. “The Badger owners have had permit

extensions and have had time to make a decision on whether it is a good business decision to

continue. Others have had to invest millions of dollars because of changing government

regulations.”

Specifically, Warmington said he is prepared to support the Badger in converting to a new fuel.

He said he would write a letter of support for the same kind of maritime federal loan guarantee

that Lake Express used to launch its service in 2004.

“But they need to invest their money,” the mayor said of Lake Michigan Carferry. “I can't

support another government bailout or subsidy to a private business.”

The bottomline is that the Badger's coal ash dumping practice has to stop, Warmington said.

“If they are making a decision for all of us, it won't be to have a coal-powered Badger,” he said.

Sappi Mill, Tank "Tripping", AED & Melching, Inc

(video)

Uploaded by biggerblast on Jan 29, 2012

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSy5p0uySpo

Muskegon City Commission will be involved as public

begins to debate future of Sappi site

Published: Tuesday, January 31, 2012, 7:27 AM Updated: Tuesday, January 31, 2012, 11:22 AM

By Dave Alexander | dalexan1@mlive.com

www.mlive.com/news/muskegon/index.ssf/2012/01/muskegon_city_commission_will.ht

ml

MUSKEGON – Not only will the redevelopment of the former Sappi paper mill property be at

the center of the public debate in Muskegon this year but the Muskegon City Commission

intends to be actively involved.

At a half-day-long annual goal-setting session with commissioners and key city staff late last

week, commissioners prioritized about a dozen potential initiatives and issues facing the city in

2012. At the top of the heap was the redevelopment of the Sappi property.

Other key issues on the commission’s priority list include continued revitalization of city

neighborhoods, review of downtown central business district zoning, cooperation with other area

municipalities in providing shared services and an emphasis on creating a diverse Muskegon

City Hall staff, especially in the police department.

The goal-setting session was critical this year because three of the seven commission members

were newly elected in November and took office at the beginning of the year. The new

commissioners are Eric Hood in Ward 1, Willie German Jr. in Ward 2 and Byron Turnquist in

Ward 4.

The former Sappi Fine Paper mill is a vacant industrial site that closed in 2009, leaving idle more

than 1 million square feet of the former paper manufacturing facility. The site on Lakeshore

Drive has nearly a mile of Muskegon Lake shoreline and 119 acres of industrially-zoned land.

The Sappi site was sold last September to Melching Inc., the Nunica-based demolition company

owned by Doug Melching. Melching has begun the demolition of what will be a majority of the

plant, a process that will take two years.

A highly-restrictive deed transferred by Sappi to Melching leaves little room for redevelopment

of the property beyond continued industrial use. Melching provided an initial look at a tentative

paper mill site master plan at a Lakeside Neighborhood Association meeting earlier this year.

Melching showed the paper mill neighbors a plan for a waterfront industrial center that proposes

to use the deep-water port facilities of the property. Those plans are being developed and are

expected to be shared with the community at a special Muskegon Planning Commission meeting

in late February, city officials said.

In the meantime, the goal setting session made it obvious that city commissioners are extremely

interested in the debate over the Sappi site. Their discussion showed the consensus is to make

overall decisions on the property’s future and not piece-meal decisions on specific sites in the

proposed industrial center.

Muskegon planning staff indicated one way is to have the Sappi site plan approval as a “planned

unit development” – a zoning tool that allows the most flexibility. A PUD zone change would

allow first planning commission members and then city commissioners to rule on an overall but

specific plan for the site, city officials said.

The commissioners set neighborhood revitalization as the second most important issue for 2012.

The focus on improving the residential areas of the city comes as Mayor Steve Warmington

began a series of meetings with all of the city’s neighborhood associations, calling for citizen

engagement and development of neighborhood watch programs.

Commissioners have a variety of tools in their neighborhood improvement toolbox, city officials

said. The city could target certain trouble areas for code enforcement to cleanup residential

properties or initiate a more aggressive housing rehabilitation program than the city already has.

Commissioner Sue Wierengo said the city needs to put a strategy together to attract more high-

income housing developments, either single-family or condominiums, she said.

“Our neighborhoods can be a focus but we need to keep in mind our budget,” Warmington

warned the commission.

The city general fund is in relatively strong financial position, city commissioners were told, but

there are economic issues facing the community such as the potential closing of the B.C. Cobb

power plant in two years – the city’s largest single taxpayer.

City Manager Bryon Mazade also told commissioners to expect the city’s Community

Development Block Grants and home improvement funds from the federal government to

continue shrinking. These are the funds that the city has used to demolish vacant houses in the

neighborhoods and purchase properties for rehabilitation.

Downtown business zoning as the redevelopment of the city’s central business district continues

and exploration of shared services with other local municipalities are other key goals.

The city planning staff expects to have a workshop for planning commission members and city

commissioners on the downtown zoning issues, city officials said. The city participated in a

Muskegon Lakeshore Chamber of Commerce shared local government services study in 2011

and Warmington continues to have discussions with other mayors and township supervisors on

those issues.

Increased diversity of city staff, especially having the police department better reflect the racial

makeup of the city, received the most discussion during the goal-setting session. Commissioners

seem poised to again put the elimination of the city’s civil service system as a charter

amendment on the August primary or November general election ballot, commissioners

indicated.

Elimination of the civil service system in the city might not be the only ballot proposal before

city voters this year. Commissioners discussed the possibility of also putting a special road

millage on the ballot this year.

Editorial: Muskegon knows the value of a clean Lake

Michigan, so leave our mayor alone Ludington

Published: Friday, February 03, 2012, 1:31 PM Updated: Sunday, February 05, 2012, 8:25 AM

By Paula Holmes-Greeley | pholmes@mlive.com

www.lakenews.com/News.asp?ID=8051A732-0A68-42EE-94F5-

93813741DB74&SiteID=MI022

Nobody knows better than Muskegon knows the destruction that occurs when waste is dumped

into the Great Lakes --- or into the ground near the lake.

One of the legacies of Muskegon's manufacturing era is a double listing on the Environmental

Protection Agency's Great Lakes toxic hot spots list -- once for Muskegon Lake and once for

White Lake.

For more than three decades, this lakeshore county has gotten almost as much recognition for its

pollution as it has for its gorgeous beaches, innovative metals manufacturing, first-rate health

care system and its fantastic festivals.

So, of course, we're a little sensitive when our lakeshore neighbors -- and our elected officials --

support continued dumping of coal ash in a public waterway by the coal-fired SS Badger ferry.

The Ludington Daily News even accused our mayor, Steve Warmington, of nefarious purposes

when he challenged Congressman Bill Huizenga's support of continued dumping of coal ash.

"One can't prove intent," the LDN opined. "In this case it's difficult to believe that suddenly

carferry coal ash is a concern to our neighbors to the south."

It's no secret that Muskegon also is port to a cross-lake ferry carrying passengers to Wisconsin

and that the community is quite proud of that. And it's no secret that the two ferry companies are

in major competition with each other. And it's no secret that both communities need the tourism

dollars and jobs the two companies generate.

But how does that translate into celebrating polluting Lake Michigan -- even by very small

amounts, which by the way, begin to add up over 50 years.

The Ludington editorial was headlined, "All we are saying is give Badger a chance." We're good

with that. But the owners of the Badger have known since at least 2006 they were facing a

deadline to convert their ship to another fuel or find a different way to dispose of the coal ash.

They even negotiated the current 2013 deadline with the EPA in 2009.

Now they want to be allowed to continue dumping for the life of the ship, when coal-fired ships

in the Pacific northwest and other communities have all converted to a different fuel.

If you really do love the lake, Ludington, we say prove it.

It took a hardy bunch of Muskegon County citizens, plus elected and appointed officials,

working diligently every day to find a way to clean up our pollution. Finally, the millions needed

have been coming this way to remove polluted sediment, restore shorelines and return habitat

needed so wildlife and fish can thrive in our lake.

We are so close to getting off the toxic hot spot list, we can almost smell the marsh marigolds.

What will that mean? That our children and grandchildren and their grandchildren will be able to

use the public waterways for recreation without fear of exposure to something toxic. It means the

lakes will thrive and continue to sustain this area.

Our community also plans to continue using the lake for commercial purposes. There's been

renewed interest in the use of Muskegon's deep water port. Huizenga warns that a runaway EPA

could regulate the community's plans out of existence, a reference to the Badger's predicament.

Of course, Muskegon County doesn't want to see that happen. But, if the EPA's rules will protect

the hard work already poured into the lakes to clean them up, we say bring them on.

This community will work to find solutions to the challenges. And we won't do it by polluting

the public's lakes.

Viewpoint: Embracing the Blue Economy means

continuing to clean up the errors of our past

Published: Monday, February 06, 2012, 10:14 AM Updated: Monday, February 06, 2012, 10:14 AM

By Dave Fisher

www.lakenews.com/News.asp?ID=C83C46A8-EF89-4FC0-AE35-

8F04976225F3&SiteID=MI022

The message of John Austin of the Brookings Institution and Chronicle reporter Dave

Alexander’s follow-up article on “Embracing the blue economy” were most impressive. It would

be difficult to expand on Austin’s view on the economic advantages we possess. Our forefathers

recognized all these ideals as did the American Indians before them. It is a great feeling to

celebrate the wonders we have at our reach. We deserve to celebrate it. And as Austin eludes, we

must learn to market it. Therein lays the core of our dilemma. Are these great assets a resource or

a commodity? This is not a new question, but one that receives merit on both sides.

When we consider water alone, it is a wonderful resource. This is proven by its abundance in our

lives, the life sustaining function it serves and finally, its inherent ability to cleanse itself through

the natural cycles it goes through. It is a resource because we cannot live without it. It is a

resource because it enhances our quality of life in so many ways that listing them is a challenge.

Many of us long term residents of West Michigan too often nod in agreement to such discussions

then go on with our lives taking for granted all of the opportunities our direct access to waters of

the Great Lakes presents us with.

When and how does water become a commodity? The natural cleansing ability of water has been

interrupted and in some cases destroyed by our many uses. This very fact is the good and the bad

of Austin’s message. I do not wish to take anything away from his message, however, we have

learned to embrace the economic opportunities and sadly ignored the waste and errors of our

pasts. All around us are the remnants of years of waste and misuse. Many of these sites have

received a lot of press and attention from time to time, but very few get the attention necessary to

remove the blights.

How many more uncapped wells must we find before we demand them to be closed and sealed?

How can the Zephyr site sit for over 20 years, transfer through at least a half dozen ownership

changes including the federal government, the State of Michigan and the Township of Muskegon

without ever being required to perform soil testing? How does a former refinery remain a

continuing source of groundwater pollution to Little Black Creek for over 50 years without a

plan for cleanup? Tearing down dozens of houses is not a cleanup plan. How does Mona Lake’s

phosphorous problem continue to be a plague on that lake when we have known for a number of

years where the greatest source of contamination is?

These are but a few of the questions we need to answer. These are our “dirty little corners” that

no one wants to lay claim to. These are the costs sometimes associated with economic uses.

When there is a cost associated with the use, then the resource has become a commodity. It

matters little if you pay to secure and use the resource, or if you pay to reclaim or dispose of the

resource.

The challenges before us today are the mandatory roots to building the blue economy Austin

speaks of. The Great Lakes have approximately 40 “areas of concern” or AOCs. This is a federal

definition for a body of water that has documented a loss of a number of its beneficial uses. Out

of that 40 or so locations, Muskegon County has two of them in Muskegon and White Lakes. We

need to rid ourselves of this stigma.

I do not wish to speak all doom in gloom. To the contrary, there is an increasing number of

residents who have embraced these challenges and serve unselfishly on committees and boards

trying to address the issues. I serve on many of these boards and committees with these folks and

wish to applaud those individuals who continue to bring their passion and unwavering

commitments to our communities and the resources we are so blessed with. Their efforts have

brought success in dealing with issues that for so long have been just accepted as the norm, or

someone else’s problem. As Alexander points out, Ruddiman valley, Division Street outfall, and

Muskegon Lake’s shoreline are but a few of the accomplishments. The recent appropriation of

$6 million by the State of Michigan to the Zephyr site is another example of our elected officials

stepping to the plate on behalf of West Michigan.

Yes, we need to continue to pursue the Blue Economy. Marketing our wastewater system,

coming together as one community on water production, managing our deep water port potential,

and growing business on the basis of our greatest resource is paramount. It is easy to challenge

our local and state officials in pursuing such goals. Why not extend the same challenge to our

local and state officials to clean up our community. Some of our local officials have stepped to

the plate to assist these grassroots efforts. We know who these folks are and appreciate their

efforts. However, local governmental partnering has generally been in areas where new

regulations require it, or to sign on for grants that others have brought to the table. It is easy to

step forward and look for new roads. It is harder to put your foot down and demand something

gets done to correct the errors of our past.

So, my challenge to the readers is to continue to ask your representatives and local council

members if they are ready to do what it takes to address these ”dirty little corners” of our

community. Are you ready? If we are ready and take these challenges, then the Blue Economy

can and will grow.

Dave Fisher is Muskegon County Drain Commissioner.

Muskegon City Council Work Meeting (2/13/12) (video)

http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/20431326

Muskegon City Council Meeting (2/14/12) (video)

http://youtu.be/oWbjUKlGb_Q

Melching Inc. asks to store construction materials on

Sappi paper mill site

Published: Saturday, February 18, 2012, 7:00 PM

By Dave Alexander | dalexan1@mlive.com

www.mlive.com/news/muskegon/index.ssf/2012/02/melching_inc_asks_to_store_con.ht

ml

MUSKEGON – The public debate on the future of the former Sappi Fine Paper mill property on

Muskegon Lake begins Thursday afternoon.

The Muskegon Planning Commission has scheduled a special meeting Thursday at 4 p.m. on a

request by the property’s new owner, Melching Inc., for outdoor storage of construction

materials on a portion of the 120-acre site.

The public hearing is for Melching’s request for a special use permit to allow the construction

materials to be stored on about 26 acres on the west end of the property at 2400 Lakeshore. The

storage of sand, gravel, rock and other materials would likely involve those items being off-

loaded from freighters, stored and transported off site by truck.

The entire paper mill site is zoned “I-2” for heavy industrial use, but the storage of construction

materials is allowed only with a special use permit from planning commissioners, according to

the city zoning ordinance. If approved by the planning commissioners, the special use permit

would not need city commission approval.

Although not part of the specific request from Melching, the Nunica-based owner of the site with

nearly one mile of Muskegon Lake frontage has provided city planners with a “preliminary

conceptual master plan” for what is being called the Muskegon Maritime Business Park.

The initial master plan for the property calls for other industrial uses with an extensive portion of

the waterfront designed for the docking of Great Lakes freighters. Owner Doug Melching and his

design team from Triangle – an architectural and construction company from Grand Rapids –

have been sharing their preliminary ideas for redevelopment of a paper mill property with

surrounding residents.

Melching purchased the 120-acre site from Sappi Fine Paper in September with the intention of

demolishing a majority of the more than 1 million square feet of industrial facilities and

redeveloping the property for marine-based industrial use.

Sappi placed deed restrictions placed on the property making industrial use the only option for

redevelopment, the new owners have said. Commercial, recreational or residential

redevelopment of the site is not possible, Melching has said.

In the meantime, Melching Inc. has begun the demolition process, which could take up to two

years to complete. Sappi closed its operation in 2009 after 109 years of paper-making activities

at that location.

The special Muskegon Planning Commission meeting is in the city commission chambers at

Muskegon City Hall, 933 Terrace. The meeting is open to the public and citizens will be given

an opportunity to react to the request to store construction materials on site.

City planner recommends against construction

materials on Sappi site; site master plan revealed

Published: Sunday, February 19, 2012, 3:07 PM

By Dave Alexander | dalexan1@mlive.com

www.mlive.com/news/muskegon/index.ssf/2012/02/city_planner_recommends_agains.ht

ml

MUSKEGON – The city of Muskegon Planning Department is recommending against a special

use permit that would allow the storage of construction materials on the former Sappi paper mill

property.

The Muskegon Planning Commission has a special meeting Thursday afternoon for a public

hearing on the special use permit requested by owner Melching Inc.

The 120-acre paper mill property on Muskegon Lake is zoned for industrial use, but the city’s

zoning ordinance calls for a special use permit to store construction aggregate.

City Planner Michael Franzak wrote the staff report for the planning commissioners and cited the

city’s 1999 Waterfront Redevelopment Sub-Plan as the reason for his recommendation.

Storage of construction aggregates is a use the waterfront plan suggests for the eastern end of

Muskegon Lake. The Sappi site is adjacent to the Lakeside Business District, a portion of the

shoreline that the 1999 plan targeted for waterfront residential use.

Meanwhile, Melching provided city planners with a proposed master plan for the industrial

redevelopment of the entire property in making the request for a special use permit for 26 acres

on the west end of the Sappi property for storage of sand, gravel and other materials.

“The owner wanted to show what overall that they have in mind for the property,” Francek said

of the “preliminary conceptual master plan” for what is being called the Muskegon Maritime

Business Park.

Muskegon City Commissioners at a half-day goal-setting session in January identified the

redevelopment of the Sappi property as the most critical issue facing the city this year. In that

discussion, commissioners came to a consensus that they want to make overall decisions on the

future use of the property and not decisions one parcel at a time.

The “bulk storage” use of the west end of the Sappi site is one of 11 industrial lots shown on the

suggested site plan prepared by Triangle of Grand Rapids.

City commissioners have suggested they would like to consider the entire master plan. City

planners have suggested that the zoning ordinance allows for a “waterfront industrial planned

unit development” zoning for the property that would require a public hearing before the

planning commission and final approval from the city commission.

The Melching master plan for the property shows exclusively industrial uses for the site zoned

for heavy industry. When Melching purchased the property in September, the deed from Sappi

Fine Paper restricts redevelopment to only industrial uses.

After members of the Lakeside Neighborhood Association saw the redevelopment plans last

month, several were frustrated that the plans didn’t suggest residential, recreation or commercial

uses. Citizen concerns were voiced on the environmental state of the property and the

willingness of the new owner to clean up pollution from past mill operations.

Company owner Doug Melching has said his vision is to locate businesses on the property that

will add to the Muskegon-area economy and create jobs. At its peak over the 109-years of

papermaking on the site, more than 1,000 people worked in the mill.

Seven of the 11 parcels shown on the Melching plan have shoreline frontage, taking advantage of

the deep-water port on Muskegon Lake. The proposed master plan shows two boat basins cut

into the property where only one exists now.

As expected, the plan shows the continued use of the old paper mill’s generating plant that can

produce both electricity and steam. But only a portion of the massive 1 million-square-foot

industrial facility is shown remaining after ongoing demolition is complete.

The largest remaining part of the current plant is the east end warehouse, a relatively new

structure of about 250,000 square feet. Another part of the mill is shown just east of the power

plant that could be used for biofuels production using the electricity and steam generated on site.

One of the waterfront sites shows one of the boat basins could be used for “tug boat and barge

repair.” That is just one of the many suggested uses for the property since Melching purchased it,

the owner has said. Melching has been talking to potential buyers of the business park lots.

The proposed master plan shows a new private road beginning at the main entrance of the former

Sappi site at 2400 Lakeshore on the east end of the property and exiting back on Lakeshore

Drive on the west end where the former mill’s wood lot was located.

The site plan provided to city officials shows extensive tree buffers on both the east and west end

of the property. It also shows the former paper mill office building – an historic, three-story brick

structure directly on Lakeshore Drive – remaining.

The public debate on the future of the sprawling industrial site on Muskegon Lake begins with

the special Muskegon Planning Commission meeting Thursday at 4 p.m. The public meeting is

in the city commission chambers of Muskegon City Hall, 933 Terrace.

Take our poll: Paper mill site redevelopment in

Muskegon

Published: Monday, February 20, 2012, 6:38 AM Updated: Monday, February 20, 2012, 6:45 AM

By Paula Holmes-Greeley | pholmes@mlive.com

http://www.mlive.com/opinion/muskegon/index.ssf/2012/02/take_our_poll_paper_mill_s

ite.html

A major redevelopment is being proposed at the former paper mill site in the Lakeside

neighborhood of Muskegon. The uses are industrial and the 120-acre site is being divided into 11

parcels with different proposed uses, ranging from proposed storage of sand and gravel to tug

and barge repair.

Muskegon city commissioners have identified the redevelopment of the Sappi property as the

most critical issue facing the city this year.

A Muskegon Planning Commission meeting will discuss one aspect of the proposal -- a request

for a special use permit to store sand, gravel and other material on 26 acres at the west end of the

site -- at 4 p.m. Thursday.

Tell us what you think by taking the poll and posting your comments below.

Thank you, we have already counted your vote.

Reject the plan 43.2% (89 votes)

Accept the current proposal 30.1% (62 votes)

Require commercial uses on the street side of the property 15.53% (32 votes)

Accept the proposal without the sand and gravel storage 11.17% (23 votes)

Total Votes: 206

More Informative Links:

http://wiki.worldflicks.org/sappi_paper_mill_muskegon.html

http://www.na.sappi.com/home

http://www.na.sappi.com/aboutus/mills

http://www.onlinesportsbook.org/wp-content/themes/sportsbook/article-

popup.php?searchtype=news&search=Sappi%20Fine%20Paper

http://muskegonpapermill.com/index.html

http://www.insideview.com/directory/sappi-fine-paper-north-america

http://pulp-paperworld.com/usa/north-american-news/item/1853-sappi-fine-paper-north-america-

sells-muskegon-mill-site.html

http://www.melchingdemolition.com/

http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=139824963