ROCKPORT, Maine — Representatives of four area towns remained undecided following a more than four-hour meeting Wednesday night about where their towns’ wastes should be sent starting in 2018.
The board of the Mid-Coast Solid Waste Corporation with a 4-4 vote on Wednesday rejected a proposal to have each town in the cooperative hold a special town meeting by Aug. 31 to authorize a contract with the Municipal Review Committee and Fiberight LLC, which plans to build a waste facility in Hampden.
Following defeat of that motion, Camden Select Board Chair John French Jr. proposed supporting a contract with ecomaine of Portland. Before that motion could be voted on, however, the majority of board members said it would be best to adjourn to allow them more time to consider what to do.
The board agreed to meet again on Aug. 10.
The Municipal Review Committee has given towns an extended deadline of Aug. 31 to become founding members, which would offer financial advantages. To meet that deadline, special town meetings would need to be held in each town by Aug. 31.
Together, the towns of Camden, Rockport, Hope and Lincolnville generate about 6,800 tons of trash annually.
At town meetings in June, residents of Camden, Rockport and Hope declined to support their select boards’ recommendations to go with ecomaine. Lincolnville residents voted to support going with ecomaine.
French said Fiberight had not proved to him it could do what they are promising, saying they keep changing their tune. He said ecomaine was not supported by voters because town officials did not do an adequate job of informing them of the reasons to go with that company.
Rockport Select Board member Owen Casas, who also serves on the waste board, pointed out that three out of four towns rejected ecomaine and the board should look to Fiberight.
Earlier this month, the Hampden Planning Board granted the Municipal Review Committee and Fiberight permission to construct a $69 million state-of-the-art waste-to-energy plant. The Department of Environmental Protection recently issued the three state permits for the project.
Penobscot Energy Recovery Co. in Orrington has been the primary waste processor for nearly 190 Maine communities, but its ability to continue operating at an affordable cost will be greatly affected when its contract to sell electricity at rates above market prices expires in 2018.