Gov. John Baldacci's efforts to bring a variety of officials together to plot the future of the former Eastern Fine Paper mill in Brewer got off to a bad start when his intentions were mischaracterized as a Quixotic attempt to return papermaking jobs to the riverfront facility. Despite some testy exchanges on the pages of this newspaper, the governor and Brewer officials have a lot in common when they envision the future of the abandoned mill.

While the governor has not given up his determination to find a buyer who will restart papermaking operations at the mill, the working group he announced last week has the broad task of looking for any potential uses of the mill that will bring jobs to the area. This is wise because although papermaking was once a dominant industry in Maine, it is clear - through countless mill downsizings, bankruptcies and sales - that, in the absence of a change in state policy that encourages major investment in the state's aged mills, this business is on the wane here.