A contractor has been chosen to permanently close a troubled Bucksport landfill that once took waste from a local paper mill, almost three years after the state ordered the scrap metal company that owns it to shut it down.
That’s a big step toward closing the site permanently and is an indicator that continued attempts to reopen it have come to an end.
It’s not clear yet when a formal contract will be signed or work will begin, but the selection approaches some resolution of the landfill saga and may help alleviate long-running concerns that it could reopen.
Residents and officials said they’re glad to see the closure moving ahead, though they wanted more environmental protection measures like a state-of-the-art cover system on the whole site, and an advanced treatment system for the PFAS-containing leachate that drains directly into the Penobscot River. The state’s Dec. 31, 2026 closure deadline also is fast approaching.
“The good news is it’s going to be closed, it appears,” said resident Don White, who helped start a group of more than a dozen concerned citizens who opposed reopening attempts. “But it’s not closed as well as it could be, and I think we owe it to the river [to spend] just a few more dollars for it to be closed the right way.”
The town has announced Orono-based Sargent Corp. was chosen to do the work for American Iron and Metal, a subsidiary of which bought the Verso mill site and its holdings in 2015. Engineers hired by AIM estimated last year that the closure would cost more than $13.4 million, according to the Maine Department of Environmental Protection.
Sargent referred a request for more information to AIM, but said it is working closely with stakeholders on a path forward. AIM did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
Bucksport views Sargent taking on the work as a “very positive step,” Town Manager Jacob Gran said Monday. He called the project a “complex and crucial closure for our community.”
The town plans to meet with company representatives in the next week or two to discuss plans for construction phases, timelines and meeting the state deadline, according to Gran.
Sections of the 109-acre landfill were covered and closed in past decades. Another 26 open acres have been mostly dormant in recent years because under its license the landfill can only accept wood waste and construction or demolition debris generated on the mill site by its owners. AIM has since divided and sold the site.
In August 2023, the state ordered the company to make plans to permanently close the landfill because it said AIM wasn’t meeting the conditions of its license.
Issues included providing annual proof of liability insurance, regular inspections and water quality test results, along with maintenance work and inspections of parts of the leachate collection system.
AIM also had not closed the landfill’s north slope despite the state telling it to do so since 2014, according to DEP.
Delays and efforts to reopen the site followed, straining the relationship between the company and the town while feeding local doubt that the AIM would meet the closure deadline.
AIM tried to partner with Bucksport to reopen it to accept waste amid Maine’s dwindling landfill capacity. It also entered talks to sell it and last year pitched using it for mercury-contaminated waste from remediation efforts on the Penobscot River.
The concerned citizens group formed out of concern about a proposal to reopen it under town ownership in 2022, according to White. He also cited an apparent lack of upkeep there.
“We realized that this couldn’t happen,” he said of the landfill reopening. “This wasn’t something the town wanted. It would be a major source of pollution,” in addition to existing pollution in the river.
Community forums seemed to sway local sentiment against reopening, he said. They included speakers opposed to the Juniper Ridge landfill in Old Town who talked about its impact on their community, and testimony from former Bucksport mill workers who said “everything” was disposed of at the site in past decades.
AIM then took initial steps earlier this year to explore transferring or possibly amending its landfill license. That met with strong resistance from the town and the citizens group.
Processing periods for both extended past the Dec. 31 deadline; DEP did not answer questions at the time about whether an application could delay that process.
Closure work was initially expected to start in the summer of 2025.
The project will involve a cover system of layers of sand, compacted soil, and topsoil for open areas on the landfill’s crown, sideslope and north slope, according to the state closure order. The crown work would also include synthetic lining, which residents wanted to see on the slopes as well.
Closure also requires a gas management system, decommissioning of a leachate storage pond, adding a system to manage overflow, and ongoing environmental monitoring.
The company has a standby trust agreement and surety bond for the work and monitoring, according to the closure plan. That means funds will be available to pay for the project, up to the bond amount, if the company itself becomes unable to pay.
AIM will also have to file a deed restriction to provide record of the landfill and say any future use can’t disturb the integrity of the cover, liner, containment or monitoring systems without DEP approval.
The town and the group had sought more rigorous closure requirements, among them treatment for PFAS-containing leachate that drains into the river. At one time, the mill treated that leachate but it is now untreated, according to the town.
The DEP is requiring leachate to be tested for PFAS and will continue to monitor data, according to spokesperson David Madore.
The landfill’s outflow pipe, which is suspended above the river’s surface, is also a testing focus for Maine Maritime Academy researchers, who found high levels of the chemicals below it and hope to do further testing. That’s part of an emerging field of science exploring how the chemicals behave and affect organisms in marine environments like Penobscot Bay.
The state is still holding the company to the Dec. 31 deadline, Madore said. If AIM misses it, DEP would “select an appropriate course of action” based on the state’s noncompliance response guidelines.
Responses can range from a letter of warning to joint enforcement with federal, state and local entities, such as the state attorney general’s office.
White is doubtful the work can be done, or done well, before the deadline. Until he sees the landfill fully closed, he’ll still be paying close attention.
“If they do it by December 31, I’ll be surprised,” he said Tuesday.
