HALSEY - Georgia Pacific officials announced Friday the company is taking steps to ensure that its mill continues to operate even if production-related services provided by the neighboring Pope & Talbot pulp mill are interrupted.

Georgia Pacific makes paper towels and toilet tissue and relies on water, steam and compressed air supplied by the pulp mill, said Steve Church, senior director of business communications for GP in Atlanta.

Steam and water are needed to make the tissue and the paper towels, while the compressed air drives the machinery, he said.

Pope & Talbot shut down most operations on May 9 after converting from Chapter 11 bankruptcy to Charter 7 liquidation. The move put nearly 180 employees out of work.

Since then, Ableco Finance LLC of New York has been negotiating with the union to get the entire pulp mill running as soon as possible. Ableco, a subsidiary of Cerberus Capital Management, is a major lien holder against bankrupt Pope & Talbot and has submitted a bid for the mill.

"We are very focused on the long-term success of Georgia Pacific in Halsey," Church said. The plant employs about 500 people.

Steve Francoeur, acting general manager for GP in Halsey, said in an e-mail to the Democrat-Herald on Friday: "We already have started the process of permitting for installation of equipment and have identified key surplus components and equipment that are available from other GP sites that will allow our mill to become permanently self-sufficient if that becomes necessary."

For now, he said, "We believe that the Pope & Talbot mill will continue to provide us with services and that there is an understanding that maintaining some level of operation is the best way to preserve the value of their mill assets."

Prospective buyers of Pope & Talbot had until Friday to submit purchase bids. United Steelworkers representative Ernie Lamoureux said he was waiting to hear if there were additional bids. If there were, auction results should be known by Tuesday.