MORNING SENTINEL • August 26, 2021
Gov. Janet Mills said Thursday she “will not allow” the Sappi Somerset Mill in Skowhegan to close, in response to concerns being raised by the owner of a nearby dam that’s up for federal relicensing. The concerns about the paper mill come amid regulatory review of dams along the Kennebec River, including the 100-year-old Shawmut hydroelectric dam in the Benton-Fairfield area, as part of a complicated relicensing process by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Among the considerations of regulators are allowing a certain amount of upstream passage of fish such as the endangered Atlantic Salmon.