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New York’s Senior Senator Tours North Country to Talk Jobs and Energy

New York Senator Charles Schumer toured the International Paper plant in Ticonderoga Friday afternoon to assess energy usage and talk about a veterans job program.

Senator Schumer has been touring businesses and manufacturers across the state that hire, or are interested in hiring, veterans.  The Senator is working to renew the Returning Heroes and Wounded Warriors Tax Credit that gives businesses up to 96-hundred dollars in tax credits if they hire veterans. But Schumer noted that the program expires at the end of the year if Congress fails to extend it.

Senator Schumer was also assessing the plant to see how, and how much, power the facility uses.
The plant is negotiating a plan to extend a natural gas line from Vermont under Lake Champlain into  NYS.  Mill Manager Christopher Mallon says the plant would tie into the natural gas line to power the plant.

The multi-million dollar project to bring natural gas to the paper mill is expected to save the plant millions in energy costs. The proposal is in its initial stages, and Senator Schumer notes that local state and federal approval would be required.

Earlier Friday, Senator Schumer was at the Adirondack Medical Center in Saranac Lake to tour its new Wound Care Center and press for extension of the Low Volume Hospital Program, which he says benefits 24 small hospitals across New York state.

International Paper’s Ticonderoga Mill currently employs 100 veterans but has yet to take advantage of the veterans’ tax credit.