By Kathy McCarty
Staff Writer
Two local landfills were among several recipients of checks from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, with 12 communities receiving a total of $198,296 as the state begins paying off its $4 million debt for costs communities incurred to clean up or close landfills that threatened public and environmental health.
Patricia Aho, MDEP commissioner, presented a check for $15,837.76 to Presque Isle City Manager Jim Bennett during a brief meeting Tuesday morning in Council Chambers at City Hall, on behalf of the Presque Isle Landfill. “You stepped up to do the right thing for the environment. Now it’s our turn to step up to get our fiscal house in order. It’s only a drop in the bucket, but it’s a start,” said Aho.
Bennett expressed appreciation for Aho and her department’s continued efforts to help improve the community.
“Your staff up here are tremendous — they don’t fit the stereotype. They’re a pleasure to work with,” said Bennett.
Aho said this is just the “first of many more (checks) to come to aid with landfill closure costs.”
“We hope to send out checks twice a year,” said Aho.
Aho and DEP Director of Communications Jesse Logan traveled to Aroostook for the presentation. Once done in Presque Isle, the ladies traveled to Fort Fairfield where Aho presented Mark Draper, solid waste director for the Tri-Community Recycling and Sanitary Landfill (which serves the communities of Fort Fairfield, Limestone and Caribou), with a check for $72,918.16 — the first of many more for its landfill remediation costs — during a ceremony held at the Fort Fairfield Town Office.
“The state is paying back its bills — finally — after suspending payments to 12 communities that fronted the cost of closure and remediation for their local unlined landfills and have been waiting for years for partial state reimbursement,” said Aho.
Last month, Aho presented checks to the town of Greenville, which shared its landfill closure costs with the towns of Shirley and Beaver Cove, and Piscataquis County, and to the city of Bath for its remediation work. Caratunk was sent a check earlier in September to split the Forks and West Forks, which shared in the landfill closure costs. The DEP plans to send checks biannually until the balance has been paid off completely.
The reimbursements are being funded by a new $2 per ton fee on construction and demolition debris — the only waste stream exempt from any handling fee. That fee, which DEP led to have enacted in the 125th Legislature, went into effect on Jan. 1, 2013 and is expected to generate nearly $400,000 in revenue this year alone.
Starting in the 1980s, DEP began working with communities to close or clean up unlined landfills that threatened public and environmental health. The department provided technical assistance and a legislatively-mandated partial match, and between 1989 and 2000, $79 million was given out to assist with the closure of 397 facilities. Money to support the program ran out in 2000, but since then, DEP has incurred millions more in obligations.
Gov. Paul R. LePage applauded DEP’s efforts, which mirror his own to make good on the $484 million the state owes to Maine’s hospitals.
“Maine towns did the right thing when they stepped up to close these unsafe landfills. Now it is time for the state to also do the right thing. I commend the DEP and Commissioner Aho for finding an appropriate way to make sure this obligation to our municipalities is finally met,” said LePage. “Maine people work hard to pay their bills, and the time is now for their government to do the same.”
Aho told the municipalities, “I realize that this is only a portion of the amount owed to you, but please know the department is committed to paying our bills and will continue sending you payments until the state’s share of your landfill closure and remediation costs have been paid.”
Prior to 1988, most municipalities in Maine disposed of their solid waste in their own unlined landfill. These dumps — often located in environmentally sensitive areas — can leach contamination that threatens air, land and groundwater and put off nasty odors. DEP’s closure and remediation program works to cap landfills to evaluate impacts to surrounding areas, contain contaminants and install gas mitigation and water treatment systems. Under regulations established in the late 1980s, Maine’s solid waste handling facilities are now state-of-the-art facilities built to be protective of public and environmental health. Additionally, more materials are being diverted from landfills through reduction, recycling, re-use, composting and waste-to-energy.
With budget season on the horizon, Bennett said the funds are appreciated but won’t go a long way in solving financial issues facing the Star City.
“We appreciate the money but given the fact we’re facing a shortfall of $250,000 in revenue sharing, it won’t go far in offsetting what the state owes us elsewhere,” said Bennett. “But we’re grateful to have it. It’s a start.”
