08/15/2008
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Photo courtesy of Butch Moor, Aerial Photography of Mainefrom the Kennebec Journal
QUESTIONS REMAIN
No complaints from those who switched to Somerset County center
Vote on 1 may hurt some in election
Steeple at center of debate in Whitefield
VETERANS REQUIRE ASSISTANCE: Homelessness takes center stage
J.P. DEVINE: Overcome sadness with hope
BASKETBALL: NBA Hall of Famer Barry doles out advice at Thomas College
HIGH SCHOOL CROSS COUNTRY: Maranacook sophomore Mace dominates Class B field
All of today's:
News | Sports
from the Kennebec Journal
from the Morning Sentinel
A year later, families await answers on fatalities
Owner of topless coffee shop on the comeback trail
Officials report cheaper, better service after switch
Two people in critical condition
Young Marines stick to program
Issue of homeless veterans at center stage
GIRLS SOCCER STATE CHAMPIONSHIP: Winslow falls to York in Class B
Bard hits her marathon stride
All of today's:
News | Sports
from the Morning Sentinel
A Pittsfield construction company today celebrates a landmark: The grand opening of a mammoth new facility in Brewer.
In the last year, the Cianbro Corp. has invested millions of dollars to redevelop the former Eastern Fine Paper Mill into an industrial complex called the Cianbro Eastern Manufacturing Facility, said company President Peter Vigue.
Cianbro opened the new facility in Brewer because it is one of four companies that have contracts to build equipment and buildings for construction of the first ground-up oil refinery in the U.S. in three decades. Motiva Enterprises -- a joint venture between the Shell Oil Co. and Saudi Aramco -- is reportedly investing $5 billion in the expansion in Port Arthur, Texas.
Planning to attend an opening ceremony this morning at the Brewer site will be Gov. John Baldacci, U.S. Sen. Susan Collins and U.S. Congressman Michael Michaud, among others.
The Brewer facility is on the banks of the Penobscot River and will produce 50 large modules that weigh more than 500 tons apiece. It will employ about 500 people, company officials said.
"What we're doing is building modulars here in Maine, but we're also talking about the transformation of the Maine economy," Vigue said. "We've taken an old shot-down, highly contaminated, dilapidated mill site and converted it into a modern-day facility."
The Port Arthur refinery expansion started last year and is expected to finish in 2010. Motiva says the project will increase crude-oil processing capacity by 325,000 gallons per day, adding 10 million gallons of gasoline, diesel and aviation fuel into the U.S. market.
Motiva searched for companies across the globe to build the refinery expansion, examining companies' financial health, ability to deliver products on time and their safety and environmental track record, said Motiva spokesman Stan Mays.
That the Cianbro facility would create 500 new skilled laborer jobs in an area that had lost a paper mill was an added bonus, Mays said. More than 200 people lost their jobs when the paper mill closed in January 2004.
"Putting people back to work in this town was an attractive feature. Motiva is a strong believer in sustainable development," Mays said.
The Brewer facility is manufacturing modules, which are prefabricated, self-standing steel structures that are joined together and completed elsewhere. Some are as big as houses.
The first modules were manufactured in April and are scheduled to be shipped this fall. The final round of structures would be sent off in fall 2009.
Mays said he was impressed after touring the facility on Thursday.
"It's fantastic, amazingly clean, a tremendous facility," he said. "I really didn't know what to expect, but it's very clean, modern-looking."
Vigue said Cianbro has trained more than 250 people to work at the facility in the last 10 months, including welders, pipe-fitters, electricians and crane operators.
He says the company's effort should be a model "to get other businesses in this state to recognize that we can compete on a global basis."
"We competed with 60 firms for this work and we were one of four selected, so it's a real honor for us to have been selected and recognized," Vigue said. "We are not at the (economic) end of the road; we're in the middle and we're going forward."
Scott Monroe -- 487-3288, 861-9253
smonroe@centralmaine.com
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