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A massive fire that broke out Tuesday is the latest setback for the embattled Orrington trash plant.
Eagle Point Energy Center has sat idle for years, having been shuttered by foreclosure in 2023. Prior to its closure, the facility — then known as the Penobscot Energy Recovery Co. — burned thousands of tons of waste a year from dozens of communities throughout Penobscot County and beyond.
Then Evan Coleman purchased the facility around February 2024. That month, Orrington Town Manager Chris Backman told Penobscot County Commissioners that the plant was planning to restart processing trash to generate electricity by early 2025.
That timeline was significantly pushed back by a 10-day fire in October 2024. And it’s unclear what effect the latest blaze, which took roughly 17 hours to extinguish, will have on the facility’s reopening. No cause has yet been identified and EPEC ownership has not revealed the extent of the damage, though drone footage from WABI shows significant burning to the roof and surrounding areas.
Another delay would be a massive blow to EPEC and to Orrington. At stake is at least $3 million of taxpayer money that Coleman is supposed to pay the town, which owns 25% of the facility. If that money is not paid, Orrington would have to foreclose on the property to recoup its losses.
As of Wednesday, Backman said he did not know what time the fire started and if anyone was injured. He said it is too early to know the cause of the fire or what it will mean for plans to reopen.
Orrington’s selectmen provided no further updates Wednesday. Michael Curtis said he has a town manager to answer questions and hung up. Marc Abplanalp said he had no information about the fire. Allan Elkin did not respond to a request for comment, while Christopher Robison and Allan Snell could not be reached for comment.
Coleman did not respond to multiple requests for comment via phone and email.
Coleman’s purchase of the trash plant in 2024 was the 33-year-old entrepreneur’s biggest gamble yet. He had previously been connected to about 10 projects throughout New England, some of which manifested while others never came to fruition.
As part of that purchase, Orrington assumed 25% ownership of the facility and has invested at least $3.7 million of taxpayer money into the trash plant.
The town has a $3 million mortgage on the EPEC property, which Coleman signed on Nov. 6, according to the Penobscot County Registry of Deeds. That came six months after the BDN first reported that the town did not have a mortgage and thus could not foreclose on the plant if payments were not made.
The $3 million mortgage includes $2 million in unpaid taxes and $500,000 of additional capital.
The town is supposed to receive monthly mortgage payments of $24,721 from EPEC. The first payment was made in July 2025, according to documents obtained by the BDN.
Orrington is also the borrower listed on an irrevocable $1.25 million letter of credit with the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, spokesperson David Madore said previously. That means up to $1.25 million will be paid by Orrington to cover costs associated with cleaning up the plant if it closes.
Tuesday’s blaze started less than two years after a 10-day fire erupted at the facility in October 2024. That fire burned through the roof of the tipping floor, and in June 2025 Coleman told the BDN it would take $25 million to get the plant back up and running at an “extremely basic” operation.
EPEC and the plant’s former owner, PERC, are also embroiled in a years-long lawsuit about tipping fees, or the money municipalities pay to the facility to collect their trash, which funds EPEC’s operations.
There are contracts with 42 communities that total at least $2.5 million in yearly fees. PERC says those contracts were not included in the foreclosure auction while EPEC says it controls the contracts and fees.
If EPEC doesn’t receive the fees, it would endanger the facility’s “continued operations and threaten permanent closure,” Coleman said in court filings last summer.
The next scheduled court hearing for the lawsuit is on Sept. 21.