BREAKING NEWS: Hampden waste plant bondholders seek alternative buyer to DTE
SOMESVILLE, Aug. 13, 2021 - Unable to get financing, Delta Thermo Energy has lost its exclusivity to negotiate a purchase of the shuttered waste plant in Hampden operated by the 115-town Municipal Resource Committee.
“DTE has been notified that due to its failure to meet several extended deadlines to produce proof of adequate financing, it will no longer have exclusivity as currently detailed in the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). DTE still will have the opportunity to close on its financing in accordance with the MOU, but the Bondholder Trustee also will be able to evaluate proposals from other entities,” MRC director Michael Carroll stated in an email today.
The $90 million plant closed in May 2020 after the original operator Fiberight could not pay its bills. The bondholders have been in receivership. In May the MRC gave rights to DTE to operate the plant but the company has not been able to get financing.
All four MDI towns rely on MRC for municipal waste disposal. Since the Hampden plant closed, the trash has been burned at an incinerator in Orrington or carted to landfills.
“The MOU, which granted DTE an exclusive right to purchase the plant, originally was signed by the bondholders, DTE, and the MRC in December 2020. The original MOU had an expiration date of March 31, 2021," according to Carroll.
“In the wake of losing the promise of exclusivity, DTE has informed the Bondholder Trustee it is terminating the MOU, but still intends to pursue financing to purchase and operate the Hampden plant.
“While the Bondholder Trustee and the MRC are still amenable to DTE completing the purchase, both are actively looking at other opportunities that would allow a closing to take place before the end of the year.”
Unclear whether that means the bondholders will simply sell the plant as scrap.