Ward Cove Issues and News

Audio Update on Status of Veneer Mill Funding

The Ward Cove properties, site of the defunct Ketchikan Pulp Mill, are in the hands of Renaissance Ketchikan Group, a corporation intent on reviving the bankrupt veneer operation. There efforts are geared towards securing another government handout in the form of a USDA loan in order to pay for the properties. Will they succeed?

Recently, one of the partners in Renaissance Ketchikan Group, Ted Falconer, passed away, and his death leads to more questions about the economic viability of restarting the veneer plant. Renaissance continues to struggle with financing because of the infeasability of the project. Recent news from Weyerhaeuser in Oregon further highlights the depressed market for veneer.

Coupled with emerging production and exports from China, pursuit of veneer is a losing proposition, and although most folks in Ketchikan realize this, neither the Ketchikan Gateway Borough - who essentially is leasing the property to Renaissance Ketchikan Group via a Certificate of Deposit in hopes of recovering payment at some future date - nor Renaissance Ketchikan Group itself accepts this reality.

Another cornerstone to 'successful' development of the polluted site is a proposed high-end lodge. There are covenants in place that restrict this kind of development because of the level and types of pollutants left behind by Ketchikan Pulp Corporation. So let's assume that somehow Renaissance can bypass the restrictions; would you and your children choose to stay at a lodge located on a toxic waste site?

Neither would we.