BANGOR DAILY NEWS • January 18, 2022
East Millinocket plans to use a $292,000 grant from the Future Forest Economy Initiative for a heating system and engineering at the site of the defunct local paper mill to make the building more hospitable for tenants. The first tenant to set up shop at the mill that closed for good in 2014 is Biocarbon Standard, a startup that takes wood chips and turns them into a carbon-rich soil additive called biochar that reduces the need for traditional fertilizers. The Future Forest Economy Initiative also awarded $369,000 grant to the Somerset Economic Development Corporation so it can purchase dryer equipment that it will lease to Maine Plywood USA, LLC, which has rehabilitated the former Quimby Mill in Bingham and will be the first company in the U.S. to produce high-quality plywood from poplar.