Wiscasset has been awarded two three-year Environmental Protection Agency grants for cleanup work at the former Mason Station plant. The town learned of the grants in an April 25 letter from David Lloyd of the EPA’s Office of Brownfield and Land Revitalization.

The two brownfield development grants, at $200,000 each, are expected to be used largely to dry and cap the four ash pond parcels. The ash ponds were formerly used to contain coal waste when the power plant was operating. The Point East developer planned to dry and close the ash pond. It did not take place.

Wiscasset took different parcels near Mason Station as part of tax foreclosure action against the developer. The town was not required to clean up the sites, but would have been required to disclose any known contaminants to any potential buyer.

Instead, the town decided to do what it could do to correct the issues, and began seeking grants to identify the contaminants and mitigate them. After Phase II field testing in May 2016, it was determined the ash pond parcels were the greatest barrier to potential development, and the town began seeking grants for the cleanup.

The award follows the town's second application for the grant. A 2016 request for $600,000 was not awarded. It would have included the ash pond cleanup, hydrocarbon cleanup near the site of an old oil tank, and asbestos cleanup in several outbuildings. The first step in the process will be to issue a request for proposals and get a consultant, who will work with the EPA to create a working plan. One of the ash pond parcels, for instance, also has part of an outbuilding with some asbestos contamination, and the consultant may recommend the asbestos also be mitigated at that time.

The EPA letter refers to negotiation between the town and the agency. This involves the consultant who will craft the work plan for the agency to approve, according to Mary Ellen Barnes of the Lincoln County Regional Planning Commission. The LCRPC worked with the town to apply for the grant. The town will need to provide a match which can be in-kind or cash. On the prior grant round, most of that match was expected to be an in-kind match using the planner's salary, and help involving public works vehicles. This time, the majority will be assistance from public works and the work Town Manager Marian Anderson has done on the application.

In an email announcement April 25, Anderson wrote, “The opportunity to repurpose this property will result in a boost in our local economy and spur growth and private investments in our community. Cleaning up and putting this property back into productive use will strengthen our local economy by bringing new businesses and job opportunities to our town, county and state. We appreciate the EPA’s ongoing commitment to providing Wiscasset the tools to transform this contaminated site. We are grateful to Senator Susan Collins and Senator Angus King for their work to secure this important funding for the Town of Wiscasset.”

Selectmen’s Chair Judy Colby said, “I’m very excited about the grant.  I want to thank Senator Collins and Senator King for their work in securing this grant for Wiscasset.  This will have a positive impact on Wiscasset as we move forward with economic development.”

U.S. Repesentative Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine), wrote, “The Brownfields program has been vital to helping Maine towns clean up polluted sites so they can be assets to the community rather than a burden.  Its record of success in Maine is why I have been such a stalwart advocate for this program, which has previously faced proposed cuts under the Trump Administration. With local budgets so tight, I’m glad these communities can access federal funds to lessen the environmental impact of these sites and find new positive uses for them.”

Midcoast and southern Maine communities were awarded a total of $2 million in grants. Lincoln County Regional Planning Commission was awarded $200,000 for county-wide assessment of brownfields. The funds are expected to be available in October. “In the grant application, we made a case for finding vacant or underutilized properties and turning them back to productive use,” Barnes said. The commission did an inventory of such properties around the county with different levels of suspected pollutants, and identified possible sites for assessment. Over the three years of the grant, Barnes said five Phase I assessments might be performed. Those assessments follow the paper trails of known issues and interventions. In addition, the funding might be used for five Phase II assessments that more fully investigate the site, in the field; two sites might be analyzed for alternatives; and one for land use, especially if a motivated owner was willing to invest, Barnes said.