The company that bought the former Verso Paper mill in Bucksport is looking to rid itself of three dams that came with the property, one on Silver Lake and two in the neighboring town of Orland.
The communities worry that if Bucksport Mill LLC abandons the properties, which include dams on Alamoosook Lake and Toddy Pond, it could reduce water levels and access for multiple towns. Silver Lake is entirely in Bucksport, and Alamoosook Lake is entirely in Orland, but Toddy Pond’s shoreline is shared by Orland, Blue Hill, Penobscot and Surry.
Bucksport Mill, a subsidiary of Canadian firm American Iron and Metal, has been seeking a buyer for the dams, which it no longer wants or needs, according to area officials. But if it can’t find one, it can petition the state Department of Environmental Protection to be released from ownership or have the dams removed, which could reduce water levels and access for shorefront property owners and others reliant on the lakes.
The lakes are currently used for various reasons.
Silver Lake serves as Bucksport’s primary water supply, according to Town Manager Sue Lessard. Maine Water, a private company that provides drinking water to Bucksport and several other towns, has rights to the lake, as does Bucksport Generation, a power company operating at the former mill site, she said. And on Alamoosook Lake, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service operates a fish hatchery.
“It’s no longer lakefront property if those dams are gone,” Lessard said. “There’s a significant public interest in maintaining water levels in those lakes.”
After buying the former Bucksport mill in 2014 and then dismantling it, AIM has since sold the main property to Whole Oceans LLC, which is owned by Dale Reicks, a large-scale pork producer in Iowa. Whole Oceans has said it plans to build a land-based salmon farm on the mill property, but has yet to start re-developing the site.
An AIM official did not respond to requests for comment.
In addition to the three dams, which were part of the package AIM bought a decade ago, Bucksport Mill LLC still owns the former Verso landfill, some undeveloped properties along Route 15 near the former mill, and island properties in Silver Lake.
Lessard, who is also on the state’s Board of Environmental Protection, said that if AIM can’t find a buyer and petitions to be released from ownership, Maine DEP would involve all stakeholders in a public process to determine the value of the dams and the impacts of decommissioning or removing them.
But if AIM privately sells the dams, Lessard said she’s concerned that one or more of the stakeholders would get left out of discussions about their future.
“The [petition] process is your friend in that it brings all the parties to the table,” she said.
AIM has not filed any state paperwork seeking to be released from ownership or to have the dams removed, according to David Madore, deputy commissioner for Maine DEP.
Orland officials have been approached by residents who live on Toddy Pond and Alamoosook Lake about the situation, but they have not yet taken steps to address it, according to Selectman Lester Stackpole. He said each lake has a homeowners association that is pursuing discussions with AIM about what might be done.
Members of the associations did not respond to messages or declined to comment this week.
Stackpole said town officials are waiting to hear from the associations before deciding whether to step in. He shares the residents’ concerns and noted there have been dams at each of the three lakes for decades, dating back to the founding of the Bucksport paper mill.
Decades ago, there was a failure at the Alamoosook dam that flooded the village where the Narramissic River flows under Route 166 into the Penobscot River, Stackpole recalled.
“Those water levels have been there for 100 years,” Stackpole said of the lakes. “What’s the damage going to be if they drop those dams? That’s a concern.”
Ed Rankin Sr., another Orland selectman, said reduced water levels could affect not only homeowners, but recreational boaters from other towns. During summer, many people use the Route 1 public boat launch on Toddy Pond, near the dam that restricts flow toward Alamoosook Lake, he said.
“On any given weekend, there are 20 boats and vehicles down there,” Rankin said.
Orland already owns another dam, where the Narramissic empties into the Penobscot, Rankin said, and it can’t afford to take on any more. He said that if the dams are decommissioned, it likely would be a few years before there are any major changes.
“Someone on the AIM side has to make a move before anyone else can do anything,” he said.
