The former diesel plant along the western bank of the Aroostook River in Caribou is almost completely demolished as the city advances efforts to redevelop a stretch of its long dormant and hazardous riverfront.
Touring a reporter around the site Tuesday morning, Michelle Hersey, president of County Environmental Engineering, estimated that the demolition is 80% done and should be complete by late April.
It marks a substantial milestone in the cleanup of several industrial sites that made up the Caribou Power Plant, a project that has been in progress since 2021. The 10,700-square-foot diesel plant was deactivated in 2012, a year after the deactivation of the towering steam plant next door.
“And when I say deactivated, it wasn’t even like mothballed. It’s like they turned off the lights and walked away,” Hersey said.
Contractors have removed more than 3,200 gallons of waste oil, about 14,000 square feet of roofing, flooring and window glazing that contained asbestos and an additional 3.8 tons of hidden asbestos-containing material from the diesel plant, according to a project summary provided by Hersey.
Maine Public Service Company, now Versant Power, built both the diesel and steam plants in 1949, shortly after it acquired the Caribou dam and hydroelectric plant at the same site. The plants once produced 30 megawatts of power for Caribou and surrounding towns, but fell into disrepair.
Maine Public Service sold the facilities to WPS New England Generation in 1999. In 2005, a faulty switch caused a 4,000-to-5,000 gallon oil leak, some of which made it into the Aroostook River.
Demolition on the diesel plant began in December. The cleanup is funded by a $900,000 Brownfields grant, through the EPA program designed to support the reuse of contaminated properties.
The former steam plant is also slated for demolition this year. The environmental professional overseeing the project recommended demolition and cleanup of the site earlier this month after a study of the building.
The city hopes to put the project, approved by the EPA and funded by a $4 million Brownfields grant, out to bid this spring or early summer and begin demolition by late summer or early fall.
The Caribou Riverfront Development Committee, established in 2021, is developing a master plan for the overall redevelopment of the riverfront, which also includes several other former industrial sites nearby.
The city held a kickoff meeting with residents in November to discuss how to best utilize the area for economic development, recreation and tourism. An online survey seeking ideas will be open for a few more weeks as the committee eyes finalizing the master plan by June, Eric Sanderson, Caribou’s economic and community development specialist, said.
“The intent behind having this master plan is to really get a sense of what we can do with the riverfront as a cohesive area,” Sanderson said. “It’s a place to do business, a place to recreate, a place for people to come visit and really be a draw to showcase Caribou.”
The city received a nearly $500,000 grant from the Northern Border Regional Commission in 2025 to fund the plan and purchase two riverfront properties, a former train station and an abandoned starch factory on Water Street.
City officials plan to renovate the interior of the historic 2,800-square-foot train station and demolish the starch factory, and are also exploring transforming the abandoned rail line that runs from the station into a multi-use trail.
Some development, like a three-acre campground built by Caribou businessman Troy Haney and his wife, Julie, has already sprung up along the riverfront. But much of the city’s plans are long term.
In the present, the demolition of the diesel plant stands as a highly visible, tangible sign of progress in the country’s northeasternmost city.
“You see it coming into town from the access highway. People talk about it,” Sanderson said. “And from an environmental perspective, getting that cleaned up so that contamination can’t be tracked around town, that’s a huge benefit for our community.
“With the plants right now, it’s easy to look at that and say, ‘I don’t know if I want to go down there,’” he said. “But it really is a beautiful spot, and we want to highlight that.”