JAY – An application for a National Emergency Grant for $307,315 to help about 150 Wausau Paper millworkers has been submitted to the U.S. Department of Labor by Maine’s congressional delegation.

Wausau announced in August it would shut down one of its two paper machines at the Otis Mill in Jay and lay off more than 60 percent of the workforce.

U.S. Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, both Maine Republicans, and Rep. Mike Michaud, D-Maine, submitted letters of support for the grant Friday, urging U.S. Labor Secretary Elaine L. Chao to approve the aid to the workers because they are being displaced by imports from foreign countries. The grant would provide much-needed re-employment services, the lawmakers said in prepared statements.

Wausau Paper and its workers are also waiting for the labor department’s response to a Trade Adjustment Assistance petition submitted Nov. 5. The assistance would provide additional unemployment benefits, retraining and educational opportunities for the displaced workers.

The emergency grant requested Friday would allow the CareerCenters in the area to ramp up services to help workers, Maine Department of Labor representative Adam Fisher said.

The aid would benefit laid-off millworkers as well as other workers who lose their jobs as a result of the mill’s reduced work force, Fisher said.

“When someone loses a job in the mill, there are likely to be additional layoffs in the community,” Fisher said.

The grant also will fund more outreach services, he said.

“A National Emergency Grant provides help to the infrastructure in place to better serve the people laid off,” Fisher said.

The services include hiring peer-support workers, which are people who have lost their jobs along with co-workers. The grant is aimed at helping them get the training they need to help others get re-employed.

That process has been successful in helping workers get the skills they need to transfer to other types of jobs, Fisher said.

The money could be used to provide other services, including more personnel at the centers for one-on-one help.

Rural and western counties in Maine have higher unemployment rates than the statewide average, Fisher said.

The unemployment rate, not adjusted for seasonal workers, for Franklin and Oxford counties was 7 percent for October; the state average was 5.2 percent, he said. Androscoggin County had a 5.4 percent rate.

The grant, if received, “would just allow us to do more in that region to help affected workers,” Fisher said.

A $1.50 in economic activity would be created for every $1 of unemployment benefits sent to the area, he said. Without those benefits, a “huge share of the people would dip into poverty,” he said.