33 



Mr. Lewis. If we can't get this bill passed and the way things 

 have gone on and the way things are continuing, we will probably 

 in the very, very near future have to announce some kind of shut- 

 down, permanent closure. 



The Chairman. OK, what would it take — and I am going to fol- 

 low this through, be a manager. Let us say we don't change any- 

 thing, but just adopt the present contract language that you are op- 

 erating under till the year 2000 — how long is the present contract? 



Mr. Lewis. 2004. 



The Chairman. 2004. If we were extending existing language, 

 what would be your position? 



Mr. Lewis. The problem with the existing language is, as I have 

 stated before, basically we have made zero money since TTRA. The 

 changes that were put into that contract have severely damaged 

 our ability to be able to make a just small return. We have not 

 done that. And that is why we are here and trying to get that cor- 

 rected. We are trying to put back the contract and the words that 

 were in the contract, not everjrthing, but those that gave us the 

 ability of being able to survive and make a small profit. 



That has never been a large profit-making facility. A steady one, 

 but not a large one. You know, I think it has averaged ten percent 

 or less than ten percent from the very beginning. That goes on high 

 and low years, so from something that you would have built in 

 1954, that is not a large, huge money maker. It never has been. 



It wasn't produced to do that. It wasn't made to do that. 



The Chairman. What about the management changes in your 

 parent company? I heard the testimony from Ernesta talking about 

 chlorine-free pulp process. You have been operating without that 

 and now you have decided to put that — is that a requirement of the 

 government or is that something that you need to be competitive 

 or what is the reason behind it? 



Mr. Lewis. No, I think it is — number one, it is the direction the 

 United States and following the whole of Eastern Europe is to go 

 chlorine free. I think that our parent company our Samoa mill 

 went chlorine free. They did that not having to do that, but know- 

 ing that that is the direction they wanted to do. We are the other 

 mill and that was also a direction. We do have the new NPDS per- 

 mits and the new permitting and the items are ahead of us that 

 are telling us that we need to be chlorine free or somewhere at 

 least certainly to be elementary chlorine free. 



The Chairman. Well, you have been under attack, your company, 

 for a long time, especially by the Daily News and a few other news- 

 papers that report on how dastardly you are. How does — what hap- 

 pens to the community when these attacks occur? 



Mr. Lewis. Well, it is devastating. I mean, going back to the late 

 '80's, you know, you have to be living on a small island. You have 

 no other way off the island except by air. There are no road sys- 

 tems. You do have the ferry. Everything takes time. And to have 

 in the halls of Congress bills passed to cancel your contract and to 

 virtually put you out of business, when that starts, I guess the fear 

 of all of that starts, the anxieties. You start wondering whether you 

 should stay there or you should leave, whether you should make 

 investments in your house, whether you should put a fence on, 

 whether your kids are going to be able to go to college. And that 



