Due too concerns that the necessary environmental cleanup of a now-shuttered Navajo County paper mill would not occur spurred Navajo County officials, the state Department of Environmental Quality, the Arizona State Land Commissioner, and the Attorney General Office into legal action this week.
The cleanup was threatened when the mill’s owner, Catalyst Paper Corporation of Canada, closed the Catalyst Paper Mill in Navajo County, laid off workers and appeared ready to abandon the site without fulfilling its obligations to remediate the mill’s environmental impact as the company entered bankruptcy court proceedings.
Navajo County Attorney Brad Carlyon praised the joint effort, “We applaud the quick work of the Attorney General in this complex, international Bankruptcy Case. AG Horne moved expeditiously to respond to our concerns at the site. We were concerned because Catalyst Paper, in short order, closed the plant, refused to sell to another paper company, laid-off about 300 workers and appeared ready to abandon the site with no environmental safeguards in case contamination at the site is found in the future.”
Navajo County Supervisor David Tenney applauded the quick action by the State Officials saying, “Catalyst was apparently selling the site for scrap and had no plans to manufacture any product at the long-standing paper mill facility. The speed at which Catalyst was moving to sell its assets in Bankruptcy court gave us concern in Navajo County that the site may need environmental attention in the future, and our citizens should not have to bear that cost.” “We look forward to working with the new owners to develop the site into an industrial center that offers our citizens employment and a powerhouse platform for economic development.”
In last minute negotiations over the last several days, the Catalyst Paper Corporation agreed to provisions in the Court Order to ensure that nothing in the bankruptcy proceeding relieves the Catalyst Paper Corporation of “any environmental liability to any person.”
The proposed court order also provides that third parties, like adjoining landowners, nearby cities, Navajo County and the State of Arizona, maintain their right to pursue Catalyst Paper for any environmental damage found in the future. The order specifically states: “Nothing in the Agreement affects the rights of any persons who are not a signatory to the Agreement. Only Catalyst Paper as the seller and an unknown buyer are signatories to the Agreement.”