JAY, Maine — As the shock of the explosion subsides, concern turns to the future of the Androscoggin Mill.
Clean-up and rebuilding following the explosion will take time. Some fear the mill may close for good.
"Clearly the mill is a big piece of the town's infrastructure, our economic infrastructure," says State Rep. Christina Riley, who represents the town of Jay.
Riley says before Wednesday's explosion, the Androscoggin Mill was thriving.
"The Pixelle Mill, and Verso before that, has been very well positioned," Riley said.
The mill has consistently provided jobs to hundreds in the town of Jay and surrounding communities.
"They are good jobs and people are really happy to have those," says Riley.
The mill's economic impact in jay is far-reaching.
Riley says, "A lot of people with small businesses depend on those people who have good jobs at the mill. They bring a lot of economic activity into the town and the mill pays about half of our property taxes."
Governor Janet Mills says she's committed to making sure the mill, the town, and the region survive this blow.
Mills says, "We will do whatever it takes on our part to help them find another supply of pulp in an economic fashion, to do our part to keep that mill alive, bring it back to full steam and keep those workers employed."
In a statement, the mill's parent company Pixelle Specialty Solutions LLC says, "We are not in a position to estimate the exact timing of restarting any part of the mill."
"The pulp digester was significantly damaged and as a result the mill will be unable to produce pulp for a significant period."
Pixelle says it is considering continuing work in undamaged sections of the mill: "The paper machines were not affected and we are exploring options to resume paper machine operations as soon as possible to serve our customers."
Former state representative Tom Saviello says continuing work in the paper section of the mill is a good idea.
"It's an expensive alternative to go to," Saviello says, "but it may be enough to keep them employed and going in the hole and keep their market share until the digesters get rebuilt."
One thing is for sure, while the explosion itself happened quickly, the reverberations from the blast will be felt for a long time to come.