The Brunswick Town Council unanimously voted Monday night to inform a natural gas company that it does not support the expansion of a biosolids digester in the town.
In 2023, a firm called Viridi Energy bought an anaerobic digester in Brunswick Landing, which creates energy out of organic waste, such as the solid material that’s removed from sewage at wastewater treatment plants. A similar facility is being proposed in Norridgewock, and officials there hope it will be fully operational by the end of this year, according to WGME.
Now, Viridi is attempting to scale up its production of electricity and natural gas at the biodigester — it plans to take 85,000 tons of biosolids a year, reducing it to less than 10,000 tons of leftover sludge that would be sent to Juniper Ridge Landfill in Old Town. The company came before the Brunswick Town Council in January to present its initial plans for the contract zoning process, and returned Monday to address concerns that residents brought up five months ago.
In order to profit, though, Viridi would potentially need to truck in sludge from out-of-state, and Brunswick residents said they rejected the idea of odor, increased truck traffic and potential increased PFAS contaminants coming into the growing former U.S. Naval Air Station.
Fourteen people spoke out against the expansion at Monday night’s special meeting, and another 294 people signed a petition opposing Viridi’s proposed expansion.
“This is the most engaged I’ve ever seen our town residents on a single issue,” said Brunswick Council Nathan MacDonald.
Representatives for Viridi said at the meeting that it proposed to construct an indoor facility to minimize odor, and that it would have created a $3 million fund to help Brunswick residents connect to town water or install filters to make sure their water was free of PFAS.
Those promises weren’t enough for the residents, though. Most argued that, while turning sludge into energy is a good idea, a residential area that recently experienced a large PFAS spill is not the right location for such a facility.
“We can’t take on the risk of an even more damaged quality of life in such a densely populated area,” Peggy Siegle, a Brunswick resident, said during public comment.
Jules Walkup is a Report for America corps member. Additional support for this reporting is provided by BDN readers.
