ORRINGTON, Maine — Margaret Parker, 73, is interested in history and watching it unfold in front of her.
The longtime Orrington resident early today will head out onto her back porch, which overlooks the Penobscot River, to watch and take photos as Cianbro’s first load of refinery modules makes its way down Maine’s largest channel.
The massive barge carrying the modules is scheduled to leave Cianbro’s Eastern Manufacturing Facility bulkhead in Brewer at 9 a.m., for the 15- to 20-day journey to Port Arthur, Texas. The larger modules are 120 feet long, 60 feet wide and 40 feet tall and weigh 650 tons.
“I really feel this is a historic event. I think it’s one of the greatest things that has happened in the area since I’ve lived here,” said Parker, a resident of Orrington for 37 years.
Pittsfield-based Cianbro Corp. invested in the community of Brewer and the region when it decided to clean up the abandoned and contaminated Eastern Fine Paper Co. site in South Brewer and refurbish it into a module manufacturing plant that employs hundreds of skilled laborers.
“Cianbro took over a dying facility and made it into something wonderful,” Parker said Wednesday.
The Brewer plant employs more than 400 laborers, and another 70 workers make pipe in Bangor, to create the huge modules for an enormous oil refinery expansion in Port Arthur, Texas.
The barge leaving today carries the first four of 53 modules ordered for Motiva Enterprises LLC’s $7 billion expansion at the refinery, which makes Shell-brand petroleum products.
Because of their size, the modules can only be moved by water.
“It’s just like back in the 1800s,” Parker said. “We had ships all over the world, Asia and Europe,” delivering Maine goods.
Parker’s home lies in South Orrington, so the barge should pass her home shortly after departing Brewer.
The modules, which fill the massive barge, will be easily visible from several locations along the river, including nearby Hamlin’s Marina in Hampden, located near Dana’s Grill; Winterport Marina, 49 Water St. in Winterport; Sandy Point in Stockton Springs; or Fort Knox Historic Site in Prospect.
Fort Knox is the best place to see the modules, said Mike Leighton, Bureau of Parks and Lands acting regional manager, inviting viewers to park in the site’s parking lot, which is free today, and walk down toward the river.
The Penobscot Narrows Bridge Observatory, which opens to the public on May 1, is not open and the old Verona Island bridge “is not safe for pedestrian or vehicle use,” said Mark Latti, spokesman for the Maine Department of Transportation. “There are parts of that bridge that are crumbling.”
People should be able to catch future module shipments from the observatory this summer, he said.
Caroline Burnham, 70, of Rockland said she’ll head to the riverfront today at lunchtime.
“I’m so proud that Brewer is going again,” she said. “Things that I can see improving our state make my heart warm.”
By the time Burnham sees the vessel, Parker will have left her back porch for the comfort of her South Orrington home. She said sixth-grade students from Center Drive School also will be at the riverbank watching history.
“I’m so excited about it,” Parker said. “My neighbors are excited. Everybody is so excited.”
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