The newest owner of Orrington’s shuttered trash incinerator has agreed to pay the town nearly $25,000 a month starting in July to repay a $2.5 million mortgage that includes back taxes and other money spent on the facility.
Details of that agreement were among the documents obtained by the Bangor Daily News on Friday through a Freedom of Access Act request regarding the Eagle Point Energy Center in Orrington. The documents for the first time reveal details about the payments expected by EPEC to Orrington, of which town officials had remained mum.
The town of Orrington has a 25 percent stake in Eagle Point Energy Center, the trash plant previously known as the Penobscot Energy Recovery Center. The other 75 percent is owned by Northern Farms LLC, of which Evan Coleman is the majority owner.
Orrington holds a $2.5 million mortgage on the property for back taxes and other money the town has spent on the facility. The mortgage agreement, an addendum to the contract, was not included in the documents the town released.
Payments from EPEC are scheduled to start July 1 at a monthly rate of $24,721.50, according to the promissory note signed March 7, 2024. On July 1, 2030, EPEC will have paid just shy of $1.5 million and the remaining balance is due in full plus any unpaid interest, the note said.
Individual receipts show that EPEC made three such monthly payments in March and May 2024, totaling $74,164.50. However, a copy of Orrington’s general ledger detail report states the EPEC had paid $52,442 as of May 13, 2025.
The first mortgage payment was made two months ahead of schedule, Backman said at a March 25, 2024, Select Board meeting. It’s unclear what payment or deadline he was referencing.
Orrington released the documents nearly seven months after a BDN reporter first requested them through a Freedom of Access Act request, which gives the public the right to see government documents.
The BDN filed a lawsuit in Penobscot Superior Court last month because of the delays. The town agreed to release the records by the end of this week and pay the BDN’s $2,500 legal fees in exchange for the paper dropping the lawsuit.
Backman said Friday the town had no further comment at the advice of its legal counsel.
Orrington and Northern Farms LLC cannot withdraw from the company unless it goes bankrupt or if all members approve the transfer, according to the contract. The contract also clarifies the agreement is not a joint venture or partnership.
When EPEC first bought the plant, the previous owner, C&M Faith Holdings, retained 19.5 percent of the company. C&M, managed by Mark Boswell, withdrew from the agreement April 30, 2024, and will be paid a total of $250,000, in three installments of $83,000. The third payment installment is scheduled for January 2026.
C&M Faith Holdings bought the plant for $1.2 million in November 2023.
As part of the withdrawal, C&M, including Boswell, agreed to keep terms of the agreement confidential and that it will make no “disparaging or harmful statements” about EPEC. It also agreed it will not “encourage any customer, supplier or other business partner of the [EPEC] to stop doing business with the [EPEC].”
Starting in 2028, EPEC will make a $25,000 yearly “Host Community Benefit Payment” to Orrington until 2048. If EPEC fails to operate for three or more consecutive years, those payment requirements stop.
Debts, obligations and liabilities are solely EPEC’s, according to the contract, and those do not fall to the members, which includes Orrington.
Orrington is a third-party guarantor for $141,548 to Versant Power on behalf of EPEC, according to an agreement. If EPEC does not pay the full amount within 12 months, Orrington guarantees that it will cover any remaining balance.
The power that EPEC generates will flow “behind the meter” to the neighboring business park, which means companies will get power at a rate 60 to 70 percent cheaper than Versant’s pricing, according to a statement included with the documents.
The plant has not operated since EPEC bought it in February 2024. A 10-day fire in October set renovations and repairs back at the facility. Timelines for reopening have ranged from the end of this year to September 2026.
