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Last week’s Spokesman-Review story ‘Pending auction in Usk foretells end of papermill’s return,’ reprinted in the June 18 Miner, said that Laura Verity didn’t respond to the Spokesman-Review. That may be true, but she did respond to questions from The Miner. We sent Verity a link to the auction site and asked about the auction of the papermaking equipment at Usk. Here is her response.
“The auction site you sent is equipment at our facility, but we are not selling all equipment at the site. While it was a tough decision to make, we have started the process of removing equipment that is not going to be useful for future lines of business as we repurpose the site.
“As a company, we acknowledge that this news may bring disappointment to our community, but our hope is that it will change to excitement and positivity as we bring new opportunity to the area. We remain committed to creating a diverse and long-term business model at our site in Pend Orielle County.
“Merkle Standard continues to operate our digital asset data centers in Usk and the Newport area and proudly participates in community events such as the upcoming Newport Rodeo. All this while the company keeps growing, developing data centers across the country, and actively planning for the future at the Usk site.”
We regret any confusion this omission may have caused.
