State officials have accepted a new petition from a company that wants to rid itself of three Hancock County dams, after the state rejected its first petition last summer.
But representatives of five towns affected by those dams are trying to make sure the company does not just abandon them.
Bucksport Mill LLC, a subsidiary of American Iron & Metal, wants to cede ownership of the three dams it acquired when it bought the former Verso Paper mill in Bucksport in 2015. Water impounded by the dams forms Silver Lake in Bucksport and Alamoosook Lake and Toddy Pond in Orland. Other towns that are concerned about the situation include Blue Hill, Penobscot and Surry, which also have frontage on the waterways.
After submitting a petition last summer, which state officials discarded after declaring it insufficient, AIM filed another this fall to the Maine Department of Environmental Protection seeking approval to either sell or abandon the dams. The agency accepted the petition earlier this month, but is not expected to make a decision on it for at least several months.
Local officials and residents are concerned that lake levels could drop dramatically if AIM sells the dams, or that the dams could fail if AIM walks away and they are poorly maintained, causing a flash flood downstream.
Representatives of a coalition of local groups concerned about the dams, which include the five towns and homeowners associations on the three lakes, say that AIM needs to provide more information about the dams in its petition.
“Without detailed information on the dams, it is impossible to have any meaningful consultation related to ownership,” the group said in a statement.
To prevent AIM from abruptly discarding the dams, the towns of Bucksport and Orland have adopted moratoriums that bar the company from doing anything with them before next spring, at the earliest.
AIM has scheduled a public meeting about its petition, as required by state law, for 5 p.m. on Thursday at Maine Maritime Academy’s training facility, located on the former mill property in Bucksport.
Each of the five towns are required by state law to hold public meetings before the end of the year about AIM’s petition, but the towns do not have to decide whether to take ownership of the dams at those meetings, according to the five-town group.
“It will be the beginning of the conversation and an acknowledgment that no decision can be made without having all of the information we have been requesting from the owner,” the group said.
Penobscot has scheduled its meeting for Dec. 3; Bucksport for Dec. 12; and Orland for Dec. 13. Surry and Blue Hill have not yet scheduled their mandated meetings.
Four of the towns that surround Toddy Pond — Blue Hill, Orland, Penobscot and Surry — have hired Portland law firm Norman Hanson & Detroy to represent their interests through AIM’s divestment process, and are seeking contributions to help with their legal costs.
“We are working hard to prevent the current dam owners from walking away from the dams with no repercussions,” officials with the group said.
An official from AIM did not respond Tuesday to a request for comment about the company’s petition to relinquish ownership of the dams.
