BANGOR, Maine — The Maine Department of Environmental Protection will take another 30 days to determine if the public will benefit from a controversial integrated solid waste and recycling facility with a landfill in Greenbush or Argyle planned by an organization representing more than 180 Maine towns.
“There is a lot to consider,” Karen Knuuti, DEP project analyst, said Tuesday about the Municipal Review Committee’s permit application. “It’s a long process.”
The Maine DEP requested additional information from the applicant, which caused the delay in the decision, Knuuti said.
“Getting that [additional information] in the middle of August, we decided we needed a little more time [to review it],” she said.
The Municipal Review Committee Inc. is a nonprofit organization formed in 1991 to address the trash disposal interests of a group that now totals 187 communities. MRC leaders submitted an April application with the Maine DEP for a public benefit determination needed to open a solid waste and recycling facility with a landfill on about 500 acres in Greenbush, or approximately 700 acres in Argyle.
Residents who live in or around the two rural communities have voiced their opposition and will have one more chance to comment before the decision is made final, Knuuti said.
The Maine DEP is expected to issue a draft decision by mid- to late-September and at the same time open a 5-day public comment period, the project analyst said. Those comments will be reviewed before the final decision is made.
“It needs to be approved by Oct. 2,” Knuuti said.
The Maine DEP received a 90-day extension in May that gave them until Sept. 2 to make the determination. The second extension approval was issued at the end of August.
All documents received by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection related to the public benefit determination, including the application and public comments, are available at maine.gov/dep/waste/mrc/index.html.