Trash changes imminent
By Stuart Hedstrom
Staff Writer
DOVER-FOXCROFT — Nearly 200 Maine communities, including many in Piscataquis County and the surrounding areas, are part of the Municipal Review Committee (MRC) and through this arrangement town waste is sent to the Penobscot Energy Recovery Company (PERC) in Orrington. With energy prices — trash is incinerated at the PERC and converted into electricity to be sold to Emera Maine — dropping in 2018, the MRC is looking at an alternative to-be-constructed biomass facility in Hampden to be the future site of where member communities’ waste is taken. This plan was on the agenda of the Dec. 1 meeting of the Piscataquis County Commissioners.
“The MRC was formed in 1991, the PERC facility down in Orrington that we all rely on opened in 1998,” MRC Executive Director Greg Lounder told those present, including a number of the MRC member town officials. He said the board of directors has been planning for beyond 2018 since 2007, saying, “Solid waste facilities are kind of like a slow-moving oil tanker.”
Lounder explained the preference would have been to continue with PERC, but the MRC feared possibilities with the drop in energy prices such as a sharp rise in tipping fees for towns that send waste to Orrington. Instead proposals for beyond for 2018 were sought and, out of 13 received, the MRC decided to go with Fiberight of Baltimore which turns organic waste into biofuels.
A draft agreement between the MRC and Fiberight has been sent out to members, with the proposed contract for 15 years and followed by a trio of 5-year extensions. Lounder said the MRC would own a 90-acre parcel of land in Hampden, and would build a 4,620-foot access road and provide water and sewer for the property. Fiberight would then finance, construct, operate and own the $60 million waste municipal solid waste processing and recycling facility.
Under the plan, the MRC would work with communities to ensure enough annual tonnage of municipal solid waste is sent to Hampden, and there would be no liability if the amount falls short of the company’s goal if the parties are acting in good faith.
The MRC will finalize the legal agreements with Fiberight over the next six months, with member communities to then hold formal votes on the contract.
Commissioners Chair Fred Trask asked Lounder what towns would be committing to. Lounder said this may vary among communities, but he described the arrangement as a “commitment to contract, a commitment to move tonnage to Hampden from Orrington.”
The MRC executive director was also asked why the organization is going to all the trouble. “The answer is we don’t have a choice,” he responded.
Greenville Town Manager John Simko asked about any changes to what types of waste would be accepted through Fiberight. “We have worked very hard to keep the municipal solid waste definition the same,” Lounder said.
Dover-Foxcroft Town Manager Jack Clukey wondered what PERC’s plan would be if the facility no longer works with the MRC.
Lounder said he was not sure, as PERC may or may not be able to bring in waste from elsewhere in New England. “If there was a practical way for that to be a solution for us I think we would have seen it by now,” he said about continuing with PERC beyond 2018.
Simko inquired about town recycling programs, those already in place or that could be implemented in the future.
“We want communities to have flexibility to improve those programs,” Lounder said. Member communities would be asked not to start up organic recycling initiatives, with Fiberight wanting these materials, but other recycling would be alright.
“We want to design a system that contemplates recycling,” he said.
Interim County Manager Tom Lizotte said the commissioners would vote to sign its agreement sometime in 2016. He said there could be some hesitation, but “we do know the current model won’t work after 2018.”