AbitibiBowater's plan to shut its Grand Falls-Windsor newsprint mill in the Canadian province of Newfoundland by March 2009 has triggered retaliatory action. The provincial government has expropriated the company's hydroelectricity rights from the generating station at Star Lake and all its timber rights to forests on Crown land. Premier Danny Williams is quoted as saying "It simply makes sense if Abitibi are not going to continue operation of the pulp and paper mill and renege on their commitment to our province, they will no longer have access to our natural resources." AbitibiBowater - which is now considered to be a US-based company - is considering legal action. The company shut its Stephenville mill in 2005 and owns two other hydroelectric stations on the island-province. www.abitibibowater.com

Mohawk Fine Papers Inc. says that, as of June 17, 2008, its Cohoes, NY, location surpassed two million safe work hours and had gone four years without a lost-time injury. The operation and its 222 employees have not had any injuries that resulted in days away from work. As well, its Saybrook converting center achieved one million safe work hours as of September 19, 2008, again reflecting over four years without a lost-time incident. www.mohawkpaper.com

An effort to reopen Pope & Talbot's pulp mill in Mackenzie, BC, has hit a road-block: the collapse of pulp prices. The new owner, Worthington Properties of Edmonton, AB, paid $C6.5-million for the property in September. Other problems include high fiber and operating costs. Many sawmills in the region have shut down because of the poor lumber markets and chips from such operations are expensive and hard to get. The mill may open in the spring.www.worthington.ca

International Paper shut its Bastrop, LA, pulp mill in late November. The mill was already idled earlier in the month in a seven-week shutdown but poor markets led to the decision to indefinitely cease operations. Some 550 jobs will be lost and IP's pulp capacity reduced by 450,000 tons/y. www.ipaper.com

According to an Associated Press report in November, the Louisiana state economic development department is negotiating with a potential buyer for Tembec's shuttered St. Francisville paper mill. St. Francisville LLC would invest $150 million in the plant, which would employ 200 staff initially, growing to 375 within four years. The report says that Tembec lost $235 million during the mill's first five years of operation. Tembec bought the mill from Crown Vantage in 2001.

Smurfit-Stone Container Corp. shut its 230,000-ton/year NBHK pulp mill in Portagedu- Fort, QC, on October 31 because of falling pulp prices. About 218 jobs were lost. www.smurfit-stone.com

The Center for Paper Business and Industry Studies (CPBIS) in the School of Economics at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Metso Paper North America have signed an agreement to collaborate in executive education and graduate research. www.cpbis.gatech.edu; www.metso.com.

Sonoco will permanently close its Rockton, IL, uncoated recycled paperboard mill. Its capacity is 38,000 tons/y. It recently closed a similar 48,000-t/y mill in Montreal, QC, and a 5,000- t/y specialty paperboard machine at its Holyoke, MA, mill. www.sonoco.com

On October 17, SCA Tissue started up its new 70,000-ton/y No. 14 dry-crepe tissue machine at the Barton, AL, mill. The $145-million project plus the existing No. 12 wet-crepe machine brings the annual tissue capacity to 180,000 tons/y. A new 250,000-sq-ft building houses No. 14, a new 100,000-ton/y DIP line and additional capacity for wastepaper storage and handling. A result of the Barton machine start-up is that SCA said it would close its Alsip, IL, tissue mill as of December 31 because it did not provide the required concentration of papermaking, converting and distribution facilities. www.torkusa.com, www.sca.com

South Africa's Sappi expected to close its 750-million -Euro buy of Finland's M-real's graphic papers group by December 31, 2008. It acquires mills in Kangas, Kirkniemi, Biberist and Stockstadt with total coated paper capacity of about 1.9 million tonnes/year. Sappi could hold up to 30% of the European market. www.sappi.com.