MERC group finds compromise
The task force charged with determining the future of Biddeford's Maine Energy Recovery Co. trash incinerator has released a plan to relocate the facility's trash processing operation outside the city.
City and state officials and a representative from Casella Waste, which owns MERC, announced a plan yesterday that would move the building's trash operations from downtown Biddeford to an unspecified location elsewhere, according to the Portland Press Herald. The task force -- which includes Biddeford Mayor Joanne Twomey and Maine Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner John Richardson -- did not say where the new trash processing facility would be located, but Casella executive James Bohlig said talks with other communities are "advanced." The proposal also includes an electricity co-op that would allow the electricity generated to be sold to distributors instead of being put on the market, cutting electricity costs for residents by as much as $400 a year.
Relocating the trash processing from Biddeford would eliminate the odor and traffic associated with it, which city officials said inhibited downtown redevelopment. Waste heat from the incinerator would be used to warm the 2-million-square-foot mill space nearby, making it more attractive to develop, according to the paper. The new facility would allow Casella to double the amount of material it recycles and turn trash into pellets, which would produce more energy than what's currently burned in the incinerator, Bohlig told the paper. The new facility would also provide thousands of dollars in property taxes and about two dozen jobs to the host community, Richardson said.
The task force has been talking since May to reach a compromise on the MERC facility, which the city of Biddeford wanted to shut it down, while Vermont-based Casella wanted to sell it to another company. The electricity co-op is expected to launch in January, and construction of the processing plant could start in as little as 18 months if economic stimulus money is available, the Press Herald reported.
Go to the article from the Portland Press Herald >>
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