Coastal Resources of Maine puts operations on hold

Coastal Resources of Maine, Hampden, Maine, has had to temporarily close this month as the facility struggles to pay its expenses and faces a new lawsuit from a contractor that alleges it’s owed at least $1.2 million for staffing and running the facility.

According to the Bangor Daily News, the closure has forced the 115 communities that normally send waste to the Coastal Resources of Maine plant to instead divert it to landfills.

The latest closure has also prompted a warning from the organization representing those communities that the plant is violating its contractual obligations and has 30 days to fix the situation. That violation notice is a step toward the organization, the Municipal Review Committee, terminating its contract to have its members send their waste to Coastal Resources of Maine.

The Bangor Daily News previously reported the plant has been seeking a $14.7 million loan to help pay its bills and make operating improvements after it had trouble bringing in revenue during its first six months of commercial operation, which began in November 2019.

But delays in securing those funds have forced the company to take “the unfortunate step” of temporarily closing, said Shelby Wright, the company’s director of community services. As a result, communities started having to divert their waste to landfills in Norridgewock and Old Town on May 28.

The temporary closure comes as the company that staffs and runs the facility, NAES Corp., Issaquah, Washington, has largely stopped its work there.

In a lawsuit filed June 8, NAES alleged that the Hampden plant owed it at least $1.2 million for staffing and operating the plant. It said that it has already “ceased substantial work” and “expects to wind-down all work at the Facility by July 1.”

NAES, which specializes in running energy facilities, was retained by the plant late in 2017 to manage its daily operations, according to its lawsuit. After the plant officially opened last year, NAES employed as many as 55 people there at one time.

“NAES cannot continue to work without pay,” Dean Blaha, the company’s vice president of operations, said in a statement. “We hope to resume work at the facility as soon as Coastal Resources can pay for work already completed and the work ahead.”

The Municipal Review Committee extended a $1.5 million loan to Coastal Resources earlier this year so the facility could make improvements after bringing in less revenue than expected in its first months of full operations. But the committee still has not been paid back, Michael Carroll, executive director for the Municipal Review Committee, said.