MERC bill limits license transfers
The Legislature has passed a bill that would prevent Maine Energy Recovery Co. in Biddeford from automatically transferring its solid waste license if the trash incinerator is sold.
The bill provides communities that host commercially owned solid waste incinerators 180 days to conduct due diligence on potential new owners, ensuring that the transfer of MERC's license is not just "rubber-stamped," said the bill's main sponsor, Sen. Barry Hobbins (D-Saco), the Journal Tribune reported. Gov. John Baldacci now has 10 days to sign the legislation.
Joe Fusco, spokesman for MERC's parent company, Vermont-based Casella Waste Systems Inc., said the bill is "problematic" because it targets a single facility, but was made "less ghastly" by an amendment that denies communities veto power over license transfers. The facility currently operates without a license, the paper reported.
A task force formed by the governor and made up of representatives from Biddeford, Saco, the state, MERC and Casella has been meeting for several weeks to discuss a plan for closing the trash incinerator.
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