EPA will help pay for cleanup of former Verso mill
The federal Environmental Protection Agency awarded $200,000 to the Eastern Maine Development Corp. to support the redevelopment of the former Verso Paper Corp. mill property in Bucksport.
The funding, announced Wednesday by U.S. Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King, is being made through EPA’s brownfield program that aims to help communities clean up old industrial sites for economic development initiatives.
A brownfield site is property that contains a hazardous substance, pollutant or contaminant that hinders the potential to reuse or redevelop the site. The EPA's Brownfields Program assists states and local communities as they assess, safely clean up and reuse Brownfield sites for economic development projects.
Verso Paper shut down its Bucksport mill in December 2014, laying off 500 employees. It sold the shuttered mill to a Canadian company, AIM Development, the following month for a reported $60 million. The state Department of Environmental Protection granted a demolition permit to AIM in September 2015, putting the company a step closer to begin demolishing the mill at an estimated cost of $4.45 million.
“The grant will support a market study to evaluate new opportunities for the former mill space, which we hope will lead to a comprehensive strategy for economic development initiatives in the area,” Collins and King said in a joint statement announcing the grant.
The U.S. senators said Eastern Maine Development Corp. will work with the community and other stakeholders to develop an area-wide plan for the 117-acre site of the former mill, which is located along the Penobscot River. The property also contains vacant buildings that once housed a tannery and a steel mill.
The grant will include a market study to analyze the local and regional market for the former mill space to enhance economic competitiveness.
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