Bidders emerge to acquire Hampden recycling plant; MRC expects closing June 30
Other news: Mill Pond House sold, raising $5 million for Somes-Meynell Sanctuary; review of new EVs in Bar Harbor
SOMESVILLE, June 4, 2022 - A company based in Texas and one in New York have submitted bids to acquire the defunct recycling plant in Hampden which served 115 towns before it closed two years ago because of financial problems.
They raise hope that our waste management nightmare might be coming to an end. Since May 2020, garbage from the member towns, including all four on MDI, have gone either to an incinerator in Orrington or to landfills. Only recently have Mount Desert and Tremont made an effort to recycle on their own as they did before the Hampden plant opened in 2019. Bar Harbor did so in 2020. Southwest Harbor has a nascent citizens effort (see below).
Sources familiar with the MRC (Municipal Review Committee), which is the consortium of all the member towns, said both companies have the financial wherewithal required to proceed.
One, BP Energy Partners of Dallas, stated on its website, “Since inception BPEP has focused on a lower carbon future by establishing and growing sustainable and responsible energy companies in the natural gas value chain. Today, that focus continues through targeted investments in the natural gas value chain, renewable energy and lower carbon solutions.”
The other, Revere Merchant Capital, a division of Revere Capital Advisors with offices in London and in New York City, appeared to have less operating experience than BPEP but has been diligent in researching the challenge, the sources said.
In addition to proving financial capability, the companies must identify operating exigencies to prove they can run the place, or hire someone who can.
Friday, MRC director Michael Carroll sent an upbeat email:
“While there are some interested parties that have not met the qualifications, and notifications are being sent to those parties, we are pleased that others are very close to meeting our expectations. Once everything is verified and finalized, MRC recommendations will be provided to the receiver who will designate final bidders and invite them to submit bids and attend the auction.”
“Bids from qualified bidders are due next week. An auction will take place on June 14. The target date for closing remains June 30. The MRC has scheduled a Special Board Meeting on June 8 from 3 to 5 PM with the goal of wrapping up its role in this part of the sale process. The MRC looks forward to providing a more comprehensive update to members once the auction process concludes June 14.”
Minimum bids of $1.65 million are required, along with a 10 percent deposit.
If a deal is consummated, it will let the MRC off the hook of having to run the plant itself. It publicly announced in March a “stalking horse” bid of $1 million to acquire the plant out of its current cash reserves, with an additional $500,000 in expenses.
But it said it needed $20 million in working capital to restart the plant after the acquisition. It sent letters to members asking whether they would guarantee a loan. That got a cool reception.
On May 12, the Islander wrote in an editorial:
“Buying a trash facility with the backing of its members towns is not a solution to dig the MRC out of the hole it now finds itself in. Without a concrete and specific plan to get the plant back up and running, voters of any municipality should balk at the very idea of their town become a ‘joining member’ and signing for any kind of stake in a yet-to-be-named venture.”
It could still take up to a year to restart the plant. Staffing will be a challenge in a low-employment environment which did not exist before the pandemic.
The QSJ chatted briefly with Loren Soetenga, head of investor relations and business development at BPEP. But he did not return a call to discuss details.
BP Energy Partners is led by Michael Watzky and Alex Szewczyk. “Founded in 2013 in collaboration with T Boone Pickens, BPEP has benefited from his decades of leadership in the energy sector,” its website stated.
BPEP currently manages more than $550 million in committed capital and is “actively investing in new opportunities.”
Revere Merchant Capital is a merchant bank formed in 2013 which leads and co-invests in equity and debt financing “in connection with change of control, acquisition and expansion capital transactions,” according to its profile on Pitchbook.com.
“The complementary elements of private equity and investment banking will position the bank to partner with business owners, portfolio companies and investors to provide value based on the specific needs of each individual situation.”
Its parent, Revere Capital Advisors, is based in London.
The MRC oversight of its newfound group since 2018 has been “disastrous,” the Islander stated. It never should have separated from the original consortium of 187 towns without a better plan, it added.
That year, the MRC proceeded to acquire the site in Hampden and inked a deal to lease the land to Coastal Resources of Maine, which was started by Ultra Capital and Fiberight, using Fiberight’s technology to operate the plant.
But that was not a marriage made in Nirvana.
Ultra Capital, the principal investor, insisted on hiring an operator with little experience in waste management, sources said. The MRC was in its infancy and did not insist on a better operating plan before handing over the biggest prize - exclusive contracts with 115 towns.
The plant opened in 2019, a year late, and operated all of six months before running out of money to pay its bills.
A year later, deja vu happened.
The bondholders selected Delta Thermo Energy, a company with questionable claims, because it bid $52 million, the exact amount of the bond principal. It took only two months for DTE to default on its financing commitment.
Finally, in March the MRC came up with the stalking horse plan. This time it insisted on proof that the bidders were financially qualified and that they would put in seasoned operators. It took four years to learn the painful lessons.
Now, even as the MRC appears to be weeks from another chapter, the trend for ecological waste disposal is moving away from the industrialized, centralized solution of another era which actually incentivizes members to produce more waste to get volume discounts.
“Pay as you throw” models are emerging to encourage consumers to produce less trash. Studies have shown they reduce trash by 30 percent at the origin.
Also, citizens are taking it upon themselves to recycle since municipalities are barred from doing so in their member agreements with the MRC.
Next Saturday, June 11, the second Southwest Harbor community-organized recycling effort will take place from 10 AM to 2 PM in the parking lot at St. John’s Church at 315 Main St.
Cardboard, mixed paper including newspaper, boxes such as for cereal or pizza and cans may be recycled.
“Keep these resources out of landfills and incinerators and save taxpayers $$,” stated on a flyer from the SWH Recycling Club. Mary Vekasi 207-244-3499 or Alan Rosenquist 207-244-0327 may be reached for more information.
REVIEW: Visibility cloudy in new Bar Harbor EV cars; latency issues with acceleration
BAR HARBOR - I paid $63.80 to rent one of the new electric vehicles proffered by Acadia Gem. I test drove it for one hour Thursday. Here is my review:
I thought it unusual when the person guiding me through the operating details offered to adjust the side mirrors while I sat in the driver’s seat. I learned quickly that unlike virtually all cars made the last 20 years, you cannot adjust these mirrors from inside.
It turned out to be irrelevant because the mirrors were useless, as they were blocked by roof supports. This was a serious design error, my guide agreed.
The rear view mirror was practically on the roof. You had to strain to look up to see who was behind you, taking your eye off the road for a second or two.
Shortly, I learned other things which differentiated this vehicle from a car, safety wise, even though it now shares same road as sedans, SUVs, pickup trucks, public works trucks and sundry other ambulatory machines on the streets of Bar Harbor.
I was asked if I wanted the doors removed. I thought it would be cool. I almost immediately regretted it. I felt nakedly exposed.
If hit broadside by a car there is nothing between you and the other car. I longed for the safety of the reinforced doors of my pickup truck and air bags.
The acceleration has a latency which is unhelpful when you need power fast. Crossing Rt. 3 from West Street to West Street Extension - the best way to enter Acadia National Park - took a while. I waited until there was no traffic coming either direction and jammed on the pedal hoping to get to the other side before a car came speeding down the blind curve to my right. A queue of cars had lined up behind me patiently waiting while I got up the nerve. Wonder how patient drivers will be in mid-August?
The vehicles topped out at 25 MPH. As I traveled on Route 233 back to Bar Harbor, there was another long line of cars behind me which I only discovered when I raised my head to look at the mirror taking my eyes off the road. I turned onto Kebo Road to allow the queue to pass.
Because of the ill-equipped mirrors, I found myself blind to the traffic around me except for what was in front of me.
The brakes are mushy and the turning radius does not do a U-turn on any downtown street.
“Clean, All Electric & Fun way to explore Bar Harbor, and Acadia National Park” is how the company described the service on its website.
But it’s hard to imagine most people who come on the island in cars renting such a vehicle at $225 to $250 for a half day.
That would leave cruise ship passengers as the primary customer base. But if they rent the vehicles instead of walking, biking or riding on one of the existing buses, then the vehicles would be net carbon positive because electricity generation still require oil and coal for the most part.
One person who doesn’t seem thrilled about the new service is Police Chief Jim Willis.
“These are legal vehicles under Maine state law which allows them to operate in speed zones of 35 miles per hour or less,” said Willis, a man with circumspect deference to local businesses. But he added that the type of vehicles like GEM “scares me to death.”
The rental office for Acadia Gem is smack in the middle of the most congested section of downtown, on Main Street next to China Joy. Most of the vehicles are parked in the lot at Fabricate, the artisan supply store on Mount Desert Street. At peak times, expect a steady stream of the EVs headed down toward village center.
Acadia GEM is owned by Salvatore Eben, head of operations for Ocean Properties, the town’s largest hotelier which provides the tender service for cruise ships, and Jeffrey Young.
Virginia Somes Sanderson completes her legacy
‘What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others’ – Pericles
SOMESVILLE - An important chapter of island history recently closed.
The Mill Pond property belonging to the trust of the late Virginia Somes Sanderson, who preserved the original settlement here by her great-grandfather Abraham Somes, was sold in the spring. The sale generated $5 million for the endowment of the Somes-Meynell Wildlife Sanctuary.
The buyer is a Brit, Katherine M. Walker of London, who agreed with two important easements - one barring construction of anything which would block the view of Somes Sound from Rt. 102 and the other allowing public access to the fish ladders.
The Mill Pond House occupies 2.6 acres and has 553 feet of ocean shore front on Somes Harbor. It was built in 1928.
Abraham Somes was the first non-native settler of the Island and for whom the village of Somesville was named. Somes built his sawmill on the east bank of the mill pond in 1763.
Virginia was an educator, poet, historian and wildlife conservationist who maintained two properties in Somesville; Mill Pond House located in the village, and a cottage on the south shore of nearby Somes Pond.
Scott McFarland of Landvest, which handled the transaction, stated in an article, “In an effort to protect the natural beauty of the area, wildlife, and their habitats Virginia donated her Somes Pond cottage and the 33-acre property to become the nucleus of the Somes-Meynell Wildlife Sanctuary which she founded in 1985.
“As a part of her master plan, Virginia bequeathed her Mill Pond House to Somes-Meynell and in 1990 the Sanctuary granted life tenancy to a local family in lieu of a substantial land donation (100 acres) within the Somes Pond watershed.”
The tenants were John S. Fernald Jr., who died in2018, and Betty W. Fernald who died in 2020.
“After the end of the life tenancy and a Sanctuary planning process, LandVest was approached and selected to market and sell this property. We knew immediately that this was far more than a typical real estate transaction, rather it was about contributing to Virginia's legacy, and at the same time, finding a buyer who shared the values of the Sanctuary since a portion of the property has a reserved right for on-going wildlife research, monitoring and educational programs by Somes-Meynell staff, volunteers, and partners,” McFarland wrote.
Virginia Somes Sanderson was born June 29, 1896 in Columbus, Ohio.
Her father was in the insurance business in Ohio and in California, representing the Aetna Insurance Company. Virginia’s mother, Hattie, born in Somesville in 1870, was the daughter of Thaddeus Shepley Somes and Emilie Clarissa (Meynell) Somes. Thaddeus was the son of Abraham Somes III (1801-1868) and Adeline Freeman Somes (1815-1892) so Virginia’s Mount Desert Island pedigree was about as authentic as anyone on the island.
In 1914 she graduated from Berkeley High School and then earned undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of California.
She taught vocal expression and dramatics for two years in Paso Robles. She started at the San José State University English Department English Department in 1922 teaching Oral English, Public Speaking and Drama, attended Oxford for summer school in 1925 and the Sorbonne at Paris University in fall 1925. She was a pioneer in choral speaking as an educational tool. Sanderson was professor of speech and hearing therapy in the Division of Special Education of the Bureau of Educational Research and Service a Ohio State University in 1960.
She died June 16, 1990 at the age of 93 and is buried in Brookside Cemetery.
This was her sonnet published in The Quill, April 1929:
Since I have known you Death has grown to real!
I am afraid to doubt Eternity
Since Faith alone will keep you safe for me,
And yet I cannot shut out terror, steel
My heart against the fear that Death will seal
Your lips, your eyes forever, pitilessly,
I am not brave. Even if I could see
The future clear, read what it might reveal
Of immortality, Death still would stand
A spectre to me, lest we should not meet
But wonder lonely in his shadow land,
Vain, unsubstantial things. How should I greet
You without power of speech or touch of hand?
These are the thoughts which are my torture, Sweet.
Why do you say electricity in Bar Harbor is from oil and gas? Maine is 79% renewable https://www.eia.gov/state/analysis.php?sid=ME#:~:text=Hydropower%2C%20wind%2C%20and%20wood%20generate,wood%20and%20wood%2Dderived%20fuels.