BUCKSPORT, Maine (From The Ellsworth American) -- The new owner of the gas-fired generator on the shuttered paper mill property has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, according to documents filed in U.S. District Court.

The filings, which would lead to a reorganization of the business, are related to $15 million in debt the business allegedly owes to energy company GE International.

Registered as Bucksport Generation LLC and majority owned by AIM Development, that business is a separate entity from the former paper mill that AIM purchased from Verso Paper Corp. last January, according to Susan Lessard, Bucksport's interim town manager. AIM has been preparing to demolish the paper mill.

An AIM representative did not immediately respond to a call Tuesday afternoon.

Lessard said a consultant who has been working with AIM and the town informed her of the bankruptcy filing Tuesday. He told her the purpose of the filing was not to "liquidate" the power generating operation, but to reorganize and continue running it.

Last spring, AIM laid off some 20 workers from the power plant after seasonal fluctuations in fuel prices caused it to scale back hours of operation.

The plant once provided energy to the paper mill also located on the site. Since the mill closure last winter, it has exclusively sold power to the grid.

None of the properties included in the bankruptcy filing is covered under the town's tax increment financing agreements, Lessard said. She was informed that the company intends to pay its outstanding property taxes to the town as part of any reorganization.

Lessard also heard from the consultant that the owners would be honoring contracts with the unions whose employees still run the power plant.