OLD TOWN AP) – An agreement with the Environmental Protection Agency has paved the way for Red Shield Environmental to begin producing pulp at the former Georgia-Pacific mill, creating approximately 100 jobs.

Red Shield Environmental has negotiated an agreement with the EPA that calls for regulations for both pulp production as well as the company’s efforts to produce ethanol. The EPA will monitor emissions and require that the operation come into compliance with state and federal environmental rules within 12 months, officials said.

Red Shield hopes to produce 400 to 500 pounds of pulp a day, turning out 150,000 tons or more a year to be sold on the market, Red Shield human resources manager Dan Bird said Thursday. Already, 95 jobs have been filled to get ready for production.

Originally, there were no plans for pulp production after the G-P tissue mill closed last year. Instead, Red Shield wanted to produce electricity from the biomass boiler and eventually extract ethanol from wood cellulose.

In the end, the pulp will become a byproduct of the ethanol production process, Bird said. Material from the pulping process will be utilized by an experimental ethanol production process created by the University of Maine that produces acetic acid as well as ethanol.

Last year, the University of Maine received a $6 million grant from National Science Foundation to explore methods of extracting ethanol from wood cellulose.

The University of Maine’s process is expected to reduce air emissions of methanol and “total reduced sulfur” at the mill, making it possible that the facility will be able to comply with federal and state regulations without expensive upgrades, Bird said.

On Monday, Gov. John Baldacci will visit the Old Town facility to discuss the plans to produce pulp and ethanol.

Pulp production is still days away, and ethanol production is months away, Bird said Thursday. The goal is to be producing ethanol in the coming year, the period covered by the EPA’s agreement, Bird said.