How MRC negligence unleashed climate disaster on a grand scale in Central, Coastal Maine
Hampden plant's closing would open 'zero waste' opportunities, other ideas for better trash management
Letter to the editor of the Penobscot Times, March 17, 2016 (edited for space):
For many years some conversations have revolved around the issue of trust in the MRC as stewards of our region's solid waste disposal arrangements. We have seen questionable judgment on the part of the MRC at several important moments in the past dozen years …
Are we facing a "train wreck"? After which all of our garbage will be disposed of at the lowest-cost, lowest-rung alternatives on the waste hierarchy, the landfills at Crossroads Landfill in Norridgewock and JRL Landfill in Old Town. Or will it be possible to come out of this process with choices? Choices that work over the very long term and to the benefit of everyone including our overstressed earth.
Signed by: Henry Sanborn, Alton; Ed Spencer, Old Town; Chuck Leithiser, Old Town; Peter Crockett, Argyle Township; Paul Schroeder, Orono
SOMESVILLE, Aug. 14, 2021 - Would you lend tens of millions of dollars to Rob Van Naarden, whose tin cup is barren?
Van Naarden is the CEO of Delta Thermo Energy, the company selected to re-open the shuttered waste disposal plant in Hampden which serves 115 towns, including all of MDI. The plant closed in May 2020, less than a year of full operations, after spending $90 million to deploy technology which had never been used anywhere in the world.
Even if Van Naarden gets financing, how could he sustain operations when the previous operator with more favorable terms couldn’t?
On Friday, Van Naarden was dealt another blow when the plant owners revoked his exclusivity as sole negotiator. The bondholders, who are in receivership, invoked their right to sell to someone else once Van Naarden failed to perform. QSJ called Van Naarden on his cell phone today, and he said, “I don’t wish to comment.”
Van Naarden has a history of over promising, as documented in many articles by QSJ and the Bangor Daily News.
The president of the Pennsylvania Waste Industries Association warned in 2013, “Delta Thermo made a number of materially false statements to the public regarding their proposed project and the waste disposal industry as a whole.” DTE used “false environmental marketing claims; some were ‘intentionally misleading,’ “ he stated.
And yet the MRC - desperate to re-open the plant - gave him the rights to handle the waste from the 115 towns. No surprise then that such a credibility-challenged agency and operator would fail to interest investors. (MRC is the Municipal Review Committee created in 1991 to leverage the scale of almost 200 towns to negotiate better terms and stronger oversight of the regional incinerator in Orrington).
Six weeks after Van Naarden failed to get financing needed to close June 30, there still is no traction which prompted this embarrassing “town hall” Zoom session Aug. 5 from MRC chair and staff:
“Our patience is getting very thin” were the words which came out of board chair Karen Fussell’s mouth. She had been the Hampden plant’s champion since its inception as Coastal Resources of Maine, the operating subsidiary of Fiberight Corp., another company which made outlandish claims.
Meanwhile, all the garbage from MDI and other towns are going to an incinerator in Orrington and to area landfills - waste disposal practices three decades old. For three months this year, while the incinerator was closed for maintenance, our garbage went straight to landfills.
There is no sorting, no recycling, only wholesale burning of our trash or burying it in the earth. And there is no end in sight. The Islander’s Sarah Hinckley reported that MDI is generating 100 tons more garbage a week during this record summer of tourists. That’s a staggering amount of environmental damage.
How was MRC able to survive all this?
Answer: It had willing partners - the member towns who happily discharged their responsibility for the messy task of municipal waste disposal to this faceless bureaucracy.
As long as it’s on someone else’s watch, municipal stewards were happy to let MRC deal with the muck.
Witness the comments from Mount Desert select members Matt Hart and Wendy Littlefield on May 27 (video below). Faced with a call for more accountability from neighboring Bar Harbor, Hart chose to belittle Bar Harbor’s efforts and to narrow the discussion to just the technical points. It’s like the captain of the Titanic worrying about whether there is enough silver for dinner service while the life boats are being lowered. In the end Hart’s cavalier pronouncements persuaded two fellow members not to challenge the MRC as Bar Harbor did.
Martha Dudman displayed enormous courage as did Geoff Wood who said he had little confidence DTE was capable of the task. But they were out-voted.
No doubt the other select board members, chair John Macauley, Littlefield and Hart weighed whether it was better to ask tough questions than to disrupt the comity of the moment when their own public works director, Tony Smith, MRC board member, heaped praise on the MRC.
Tony Smith has a day job - to manage the town’s roads, infrastructure, buildings, land. How much time does he really have to dive into the operating minutiae of a large plant in Hampden? Multiply that by all the member towns and you’re guaranteed an inertia which is the self-perpetuating MRC.
The MRC’s singular goal after the Hampden plant closed was to get someone - anyone - to re-open it. It was an act of self-preservation. Its board members and consultant never asked the bigger question: Is this the best way to make our planet cleaner? It does not understand the difference between waste disposal and waste management.
The plant’s closing was a squandered opportunity to reboot and examine the region’s municipal waste strategy. MRC did not own the plant so did not share in its liability. It was owned by bondholders who got sucker punched and are now in receivership. The MRC owns the land.
It’s likely not possible for this board to have the introspection needed and to look at it with a different lens, to understand the potential of the “zero waste” movement and to empower the consumer the way Clynk.com has.
Tone deaf MRC could not be persuaded otherwise from the outset. As early as 2016 it was receiving mountains of data and informed comments on why the new plant was a bad idea. Perhaps the worst was the false sense of oversight that somebody credible was worrying about waste disposal so we didn’t have to.
In May 2016, the Bangor Daily News published this:
“Fiberight’s technology is not a solution for MRC’s discarded materials. For starters, there is still a guaranteed annual tonnage needed to keep Fiberight running, not for individual towns but for MRC as a whole, and there is no long-term plan to help towns increase source-separated organics and recycling and ultimately reduce waste.”
The signatories were Lisa Bjerke, a master’s degree student at College of the Atlantic, where she managed the college’s discarded resources, Erickson Smith who sat on the Bar Harbor Conservation Commission, and Climate activist Bill Lippincott of Hampden.
As a citizen of the planet, I would be happy to return to the day when I dutifully drove to the town dump on Sargeant Drive and sorted my paper, cardboard, plastics, bottles and cans.
The city of Komikatsu in Japan used to incinerate all its trash, but after realizing how damaging it is to the environment, officials decided to embark on an ambitious waste-reduction program. Now residents sort their trash into super-specific categories to make sure as much as possible is recycled. In total, 80 percent of the town’s waste is now recycled, composted or reused. Additionally, there is also a store in Komikatsu where residents can donate or exchange unwanted clothing, furniture, household decor and toys, as well as a factory that makes toys from discarded fabrics.
At this stage, MRC is only an impediment. It actually handcuffs member towns from exploring new approaches to reducing trash and to recycle.
The PERC incinerator is going to be needed as a bridge solution so why not sign up a five-year agreement and get better terms?
EcoMaine stands ready to be our recycling partner as it has done for the town of Lamoine, one of 72 towns which said no to the MRC’s entreaties in 2018 to join the Hampden effort. Henry Lang, director of the PERC plant in Orrington, called EcoMaine “a great company” with a proven track record.
Fussell, finance director for the town of Brewer, is the poster child for this environmental debacle. Nonetheless she is still board chair. The original tech consultant who endorsed Fiberight’s fanciful concept and Van Naarden’s notions is still “consulting.”
The only board member who asked Van Naarden tough questions has left. “Cathy Conlow recently resigned as Bangor City Manager to accept the position of Executive Director at the Maine Municipal Association, and so also left the MRC board,” wrote MRC director Michael Carroll in an email. “She was replaced by Aaron Huotari, Bangor’s Director of Public Works.”
MRC wasn’t always a troubled entity. It was founded in 1991 to negotiate better pricing with the incinerator PERC and to force PERC to be a better operator. It succeeded. PERC became so successful it generated $35 million in cash reserves for its 187-member towns. But success bred arrogance. In 2013 MRC began toying with the idea of running its own facility. With Fiberight ensconced in the chicken coop, the war with PERC broke into the open. The two entities went at it, competed heartily to woo the member towns of the MRC (Municipal Review Committee). PERC (Penobscot Energy Recovery Co.) managed to hang on to about a third of the towns.
Lamoine was one of them. It was saved by resident Ken Smith, an environmental engineer and seasoned facilities operator. Smith was tapped by Lamoine selectmen to offer his recommendation in 2016. Smith observed that he had never seen a “pilot concept” as devised by Fiberight be employed as a major facility without being fully tested. Smith said if the Fiberight plant works, there will be a great benefit, according to the minutes of the 2016 selectmen’s meeting, but he had many doubts. http://www.lamoine-me.gov/Town%20Hall/Boards/Selectmen/Minutes/2016/smin032416pdf.pdf
“There is a significant effort to putting 5-technologies to work together in one plant, and that’s a risk,” The minutes stated. “He said such ideas often underestimate the costs, and there is risk prior to construction.”
Smith cited potential liabilities if the project failed, including having to incinerate and haul trash to landfills. And of course that’s exactly what happened – during both the startup period for the plant in 2019 and since May 2020 when it closed – MRC having to truck hundreds of thousand tons of waste to the Orrington incinerator and the landfill in Norridgewock.
Meanwhile, Lamoine residents fill up two large containers each week with paper, boxes and plastics to be taken to EcoMaine, which serves 65 communities, mostly in Southern Maine. After his report, Ken Smith was made “citizen of the year.”
On June 26, 2020, the Ellsworth American stated in an editorial that, “The MRC was negligent in its duty to the 187 towns it represented prior to the split. It was unable to bring a viable solution for municipal waste in a timely manner and it was unable to achieve the buy-in of its members needed to ensure the plant would be viable.”
No doubt anyone in discussion with Van Naarden or any other buyer would perform rigorous financial “due diligence” of the sort which is unfamiliar to the woefully incompetent board of the MRC.
“DTE is a small company that has been rejected time and again by communities in the Northeast U.S., from Albany, N.Y., to Allentown, Pa., to Paterson, N.J.,” wrote Jim Vallette, who runs a materials research company and is vice chair of Southwest Harbor’s warrant committee.
In May Vallette proposed the MRC be broken up.
National Park: 2 on-water accidents required ‘life flights’ Saturday
BAR HARBOR – Two water-related accidents occurred in Acadia National Park, both of which required Life Flights, on Aug. 13 involving two males, the park said in a press release.
The first accident occurred at Sand Beach. “At 2:48 pm a visitor swimming flagged down a lifeguard to assist an 18-year-old male in the ocean. Rangers responded with the assistance of bystanders including a trauma nurse to stabilize the patient on a backboard. The patient was then evacuated from Sand Beach up to the parking lot where a Bar Harbor Ambulance was waiting. The patient was then transferred on a Life Flight to Bangor at approximately 3:30 pm. Witnesses stated that the 18-year-old male was seen diving into a shallow area.
“The second accident occurred on the Cannon Brook Trail. At 3:58 pm a 911 call reported a 6-year-old male had fallen approximately up to 50 feet into a water pool along the trail and suffered head and neck injuries. Rangers and Bar Harbor Fire Department paramedics responded to the accident. Maine Forest Service conducted a short haul to transfer the patient to a Life Flight in Bar Harbor at 7 pm. The family had been swimming in the water pool and the child slid down a slope and continued into the water. Over 30 people from Acadia National Park, Friends of Acadia Summit Stewards, and Mount Desert Island Search and Rescue were involved.”
This year Acadia National Park has seen a 65 percent increase in rescues above the 2019 calendar year.
“Yesterday also brought additional 911 calls overlapping with the two water related accidents including vehicle and bicyclist conflicts and a bicycle accident involving a 13-year-old on the carriage roads.
“August 12 also required emergency attention to two overlapping search and rescues. One involving a 32-year-old female who suffered a medical emergency on Gorham Mountain at approximately 1:30 pm and another one involving a 58-year-old male with a knee injury on the South Ridge of Sargent Mountain. The Maine Forest Service attempted a short haul for the Sargent Mountain rescue but was unable to conduct the operation due to fog. This required park staff and Mount Desert Island Search and Rescue volunteers to divert resources from Gorham to Sargent to step in for a carry-out.
“The National Park Service is extremely grateful to our partnerships with the Bar Harbor Ambulance, Bar Harbor Fire Department, Maine Forest Service, Mount Desert Island Search and Rescue, Maine Life Flight, and Friends of Acadia staff. We are also grateful for the visitors who stepped in to help where they saw a need to assist in an emergency.”
Boaters to protest at site of aquafarm
BAR HARBOR - A “Save Frenchman Bay Boat Flotilla” is being organized for Sunday, Aug. 29 from 9:30am to 11:30am.
Ellsworth resident Leslie Harlow posted on Facebook:
“ALL boaters, including both recreational and work boats are invited! Kayaks, paddleboards, sail…whatever you have. Rain or shine.
“Show solidarity AGAINST the planned industrial fish farm and factory on Frenchman Bay. Let your boat voice be heard. There will be lots of media attention.
“Bring your boat. Gathering off ‘The Hop’ where boats will form a circle in the area where the fish pens are proposed. A drone shot will be taken. Then boats head into the Bar Harbor main harbor for a boat protest parade showing solidarity FOR protecting Frenchman Bay. Procession of boats heads out with Bald Porcupine on the left.”
Tale of 2 Tremont applications for board seats
TREMONT - To the question of “What do you feel you have to offer the Town of Tremont should you be appointed to the requested board or committee?”
Appeals board nominee Richard S. Cohen answered:
Candidate for the library board Rick Smith answered:
State official questions whether SWH select board discussed issue privately
SOUTHWEST HARBOR - The state official who oversees Maine’s Freedom of Access Act questioned the select board’s recent action allowing the sister of the board chairman to speak as an unscheduled item on the agenda July 13, after QSJ sent her a recording of the meeting.
Brenda L. Kielty, assistant attorney general and public access ombudsman, wrote in an email, “I read your article and listened to the beginning of the meeting audio. I have no knowledge of what happened prior to the portion that is audible on the tape.
“However, this audio begins with a motion to amend the agenda with no discussion of the topic to be added to the agenda. Even if parliamentary procedures allow for amendment in a meeting, wouldn’t the members want to be informed of the substance of the matter to be discussed prior to allowing the amendment?
“Then an unidentified member moved to allow public comment on the new agenda item—seemingly aware that persons are prepared to speak. The motion passed 5-0 and still there is no discussion of the topic of the new agenda item? After a brief unrelated agenda item, the public is invited to speak about ‘business to be heard not on the agenda.’ Still no mention of the substance of this agenda item?
“Purely ministerial matters can sometimes be discussed without convening a public meeting. The statute does not allow for private pre-meetings for the transaction of any government business. The question is whether there was an off-mike discussion of a substantive nature. If so, that error must be cured for FOAA purposes by revealing the discussion in open session.”
The board has not responded to an allegation that there was a pre-meeting to discuss the matter raised by Chair George Jellison’s sister, Aimee Jellison Williams, who complained about the parking at Charlotte’s Legendary Lobster Pound.
QSJ sent emails to all five select members asking whether there was a private meeting and got no response.
Former select chair Lydia Goetze called QSJ to say that during her time on the board it was common to allow off-agenda items to be discussed.
“That’s the way things were done in Southwest Harbor,” she said.
Town Council gives cruise ship operator access, denies other citizens
BAR HARBOR - Town Council chair Jeff Dobbs disallowed rabid anti-cruise ship critic Jim O’Connell from speaking at the council’s Aug. 10 workshop on cruise ship limits, while giving industry operator Eben Salvatore unfettered access.
“I’m not one to sit and watch ignorance of facts divulge into stupidity,” said O’Connell. “I thought Jeff went easy on me so I will not criticize him about it. It was Matt (Hochman) at last Tuesday’s TC meeting who said, sure, we can invite Eben to talk to us at the Workshop! It’s open to the public. However, that said, I would have broke in anyway. Jill (Goldthwait) was begging for crew spending info and I had the answer.”
Salvatore is the chief spokesman and operations chief for Ocean Properties, which owns most of the hotels in Bar Harbor and the passenger tenders services for visiting cruise ships. He is chairman of the council’s cruise ship committee, organized to enhance cruise ship operations and local businesses.
The council does not have a committee of citizens who represent a counter view on how cruise ships diminish the quality of life in Bar Harbor.
Warrant committee member Cara Ryan wrote to the council members recently, “Why do we concede so much to an industry we don't want?
“The reason for it, I think, is habit: we've gotten used to selling our town to this industry and we tell ourselves some version of it is not so bad & o yeah, we need the money. But can you imagine signing on to all those ship with nearly three hundred thousand stranded passengers & all the buses in a new deal today? We really have to re-think.”