As board members of the Municipal Review Committee, we agree with Kevin Tritz’s statement in his recent BDN OpEd, “Competing options for your trash: It didn’t have to be this way,” that the current process for determining the future of municipal solid waste in the region is unfortunate.
Over the last 25 years, the MRC has done all it could to work with the private partners of PERC to make the facility succeed. During that time, MRC has earned and returned over $60 million to its member communities. The partnership has served our communities well.
We appreciate Tritz’s efforts to bridge the gaps between the MRC and USA Energy; however, where we disagree is in our views of the process that got us to where we are now and the best way to move forward.
What Tritz fails to mention is how PERC’s private partners rebuffed substantially all our efforts to work with them on a joint solution. When four years of joint evaluation showed definitively that PERC could not operate economically after 2018, it fell to the MRC to pursue siting new technology at the PERC site in Orrington.
The MRC did not seek an alternative site until after USA Energy, the company that owns more than 50 percent of the PERC plant, refused to participate in a process to retrofit the Orrington site. Instead, USA Energy lobbied the Maine Legislature to pass legislation for Maine taxpayers to subsidize the PERC plan. They did this for two years. The MRC did not agree with this alternative and did not approve of the expenditure of $1.4 million in partnership funds, including funds that belong to the MRC on behalf of its member communities. The MRC believes this is wrong and is seeking legal means to have these funds returned so they can be distributed to member towns.
While USA Energy was failing in its lobbying efforts, the MRC was requesting proposals, selecting a vendor and technology, finding a site, negotiating a backup disposal agreement, investigating markets for solid waste-derived products, filing permit applications and developing a full set of project agreements for operations after 2018. The MRC is committed to move the project forward to completion in 2018 on behalf of its member municipalities.
The MRC’s plan, which includes Fiberight, will divert more from landfill disposal, cost less and be more environmentally sound than any other alternative examined, researched or visited by the MRC. It will provide more recycling and waste conversion at less cost than any other option we explored.
The deadline for member communities to vote and join the Fiberight plan is quickly approaching. Communities that commit before May 1 gain the opportunity to benefit from revenue-sharing agreements, much like MRC communities have for the past 25 years.
The discussions and decisions many communities will have in the coming month rely on a significant amount of information, facts and figures. This represents years of research and work on behalf of the MRC. We did not and do not take our responsibility on behalf of our member communities lightly. We know those being asked to vote on behalf of taxpayers in their communities have the fiscal responsibility to make an informed decision.
In other words, we know you have questions. We want to provide you with the answers.
To do that, we continue to set up public discussions and presentations throughout central, coastal and northern Maine in as many of the 187 member communities as we can. Those dates, times and locations can be found on our website at MRCMaine.org.
On our website, there is a comprehensive list of the most frequently asked questions and answers along with videos from previous public meetings and presentations. The website also houses supporting documents, contracts and joinder agreements for communities to review and analyze.
MRC’s mission is unwavering: to find a long-term, affordable, economical and environmentally sound option for its members’ municipal solid waste disposal. We have faced the need for a 2018 solution and have found what we think is the best option for our member communities.
The more communities that join, the better the financial benefits can be for all. We invite those with questions to contact the MRC, attend a public presentation or utilize the online resources we’ve posted.
Communities working together for collective, long-term financial benefit. It’s served us well for the last 25 years and will continue to be our guiding mission for decades to come.
Karen Fussell is the finance director for the City of Brewer and a member of the board of the MRC. Elery Keene of Winslow is a member of the board of the MRC.