PORT TOWNSEND — The president and chief executive officer of Port Townsend Paper Corp. anticipates that the county’s largest private employer will dramatically reduce water consumption this summer.
“Everybody’s expecting a very dry summer, and we are getting into the mode for that,” said John Begley, who since 1997 has led PT Holdings Co. Inc., parent company of the wholly owned subsidiary, Port Townsend Paper.
PT Holdings is one of the lowest cost producers of fiber-based lightweight containerboard in the U.S. and the second-largest producer of corrugated products in western Canada two packaging plants and two box plants.
Begley, speaking to more than 50 attending Monday’s Port Townsend Chamber of Commerce weekly luncheon, unveiled charts showing how the mill has curtailed water use by about half since 1997.
Bruce McComas, company vice president and mill general manager, said the company is now using about 10 million gallons per day and anticipates cuts to 8 million gallons a day by Aug. 1.
$28 million payroll, benefits
The bulk of the mill’s water use is in the kraft paper-making process, said McComas.
Water is also used in generating steam and hydro energy — about 75 percent of that used by the mill — to power the plant that employs 330 and is ranked No. 40 among the state’s largest industries.
Begley reported that the mill’s payroll and benefits to Jefferson County and Port Townsend employees come to $28 million.
Water cuts at the mill are the result of another winter season of inadequate snowpack in the Olympic Mountains, which feed the Big and Little Quilcene rivers — sources of Port Townsend water.
