By Gillian Graham
Staff Writer

    A top Casella official says plans to transform the Maine Energy Recovery Co. will continue without Biddeford Mayor Joanne Twomey’s support.
    Twomey announced last week she is walking away from the task force created to develop a plan for the trash incinerating facility in downtown Biddeford. The task force – empaneled by Gov. John Baldacci and comprised of local, state and Casella officials – met weekly for nearly a year before Twomey’s announcement.
    James Bohlig, vice president for Casella, the Vermont-based parent company of Maine Energy, said he was surprised by Twomey’s announcement she was leaving the task force.
    “I think everyone on her staff and on the task force was quite surprised because it was a strong departure from where she had been without much explanation,” he said.
    In October, Twomey and other task force members announced plans to relocate Maine Energy’s waste processing operation outside Biddeford while providing discount energy to downtown businesses and city residents, heat mill buildings and offer a weatherization program for residents.
    The plan would allow for a “greener” downtown with the elimination of nuisance odors and reduced truck traffic, according to members.
    Twomey, a longtime vocal opponent of Maine Energy, said she entered the task force with her sights set on closing the facility, which has generated complaints about odor and truck traffic. She said she believes the facility releases harmful dioxins and stands in the way of economic development of the downtown and mill district.
    Twomey said she was left with no choice but to walk away from task force negotiations once she realized closing the facility was not an option and proposed changes were not as “green” as she hoped.
    “My concern is still dioxins, my concern is the toxic ash. I feel that it was a green wash,” Twomey said. “The same things were there but we were changing the names. It all sounded green, but at the end of the day, it’s not green.”
    Twomey said her breaking point was the “race” to get federal stimulus money to fund a private-sector project. She said she was also frustrated by a lack of information about composition of pellets Maine Energy would make from trash at a new Westbrook processing facility and then burn in Biddeford.
    Trash would be hauled directly to Westbrook to be sorted and turned into pellets, reducing the number of trucks in downtown     Biddeford.
“This is nothing more than a [public relations] detoxification. It’s like lipstick on a pig. There will still be dioxins,” she said. “This is not the direction I wanted to take, so I’m ending it.”
    Bohlig disputes Twomey’s assertion that information about pellet composition was not made available. Task force members agreed on a testing program for the pellets that is expected to be complete by May, he said. He said the company has “very rigorous” testing standards and the facility currently is below standard for emissions.
    Bohlig said there are no dioxins in the pellets.
    “Joanne wants zero dioxins. Everyone would,” he said, adding home fireplaces are the largest source of dioxins.
    Bohlig said Casella and Maine Energy will continue to move forward with plans to relocate front-end trash handling from Biddeford. He confirmed the likely location is a facility that would be built on Casella-owned property in Westbrook.
    Twomey said she also is upset she was unable to fulfill her October promise to offer energy audits, weatherization and discount energy to Biddeford residents. She said she was told the program would be ready by January, which has not happened.
    Twomey said she will pursue programs to offer energy audits and discount energy separately from Casella.
    Bohlig said the company still plans to offer those services to Biddeford and other communities through formation of the Maine Green Energy Alliance. The alliance will partner communities with Casella to provide discount energy and other services while focusing on advancing energy efficiency, he said.
    Officials announced Tuesday the task force will transiton to the Maine Green Energy Alliance and will focus on implement goals established by the task force.
    Saco Economic Development Director Peter Morelli, who represented the city on the task force, said he thinks Twomey has a lot of integrity for making her decision.
    “She didn’t feel like this was going to lead to safe emissions and she acted on it,” he said.
    Morelli said Saco’s involvement in the task force moving forward is unclear.
    “We’ll sit tight for a couple of weeks to a month to see if there’s any movement and anything to pursue,” he said.
    Morelli said the city council will need to decide if the city will pursue involvement with the alliance.
David Farmer, a spokesman for Baldacci, said the task force has made good progress during negotiations that can be stressful. He said it is “a shame” for Twomey to stop participating, but work already accomplished won’t be undone.
    “There’s a lot of good that came from it,” he said.
    Despite her decision to walk away from the negotiation table, Twomey said she does not feel the months of meetings were done in vain.
    “I don’t take for granted for one minute the efforts we tried to do and I’m glad we went through the process,” she said.
    Twomey said she decided to leave the task force without first talking to the city council because it was her decision to make.
    “My decision, because I decided to do this fact-finding mission, it was mine to disband,” Twomey said. “I really thought with critical thinking we could come up with something, but now I see we can’t. This is not the vision, this is not going to help our development. We need to get rid of that facility.”

    Staff Writer Gillian Graham can be reached at 282-4337, ext. 213.