Buyer signs agreement to purchase closed Fiberight Coastal Resources of Maine WTE facility

The Municipal Review Committee (MRC) board of directors unanimously approved a memorandum of understanding Dec. 29 during a virtual meeting for a would-be buyer of the Coastal Resources of Maine waste-to-energy in Hampden, Maine, the Bangor Daily News reports. This memorandum of understanding signals a tentative agreement to purchase the Fiberight-owned facility. If the deal is completed, the buyer would restart the plant, which has been closed since May due to financial issues.

MRC represents 115 Maine member communities that have contracted to have their municipal solid waste (MSW) processed and disposed of at the Fiberight plant. In a Sept. 30 virtual town hall, MRC noted that the organization had narrowed the potential buyers of the closed waste-to-energy plant to three.

MRC is not publicly identifying the group expressing interest in purchasing the property. Under the memorandum of understanding, the potential buyer will work to negotiate a final price with bondholders for the plant and the MRC.

MRC board President Karen Fussell said the details of the memorandum would not become public since it’s not a binding agreement and because “we really are still in the process of negotiating all the details of this potential arrangement with the multiple parties.”

“We’re still at a delicate point of the process of working towards a final sale,” Fussell continued.

Fussell noted that she anticipates the deal will be closed in the first quarter of 2021. After the deal is finalized, MRC noted that it would take the new owner six to eight weeks to reopen the plant.