Delta Thermo Energy (DTE), based in Trevose, Pennsylvania, no longer has the exclusive rights to buy the shuttered Coastal Resources of Maine waste-to-energy facility in Hampden, Maine, due to its inability to provide proof of financing for the deal, the Bangor Daily News reports.
The Municipal Review Committee (MRC) board of directors unanimously approved a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on Dec. 29, 2020, for DTE to purchase the facility that has been closed since May 2020. MRC reportedly had seven entities that expressed interest in purchasing the site at the time.
MRC, which represents 115 Maine member communities that have contracted to have their municipal solid waste (MSW) processed and disposed of at the Fiberight-owned plant, told its members Aug. 13 that it was looking for other potential buyers in hopes of securing a deal by the end of the year.
MRC Executive Director Mike Carroll wrote to the group’s members stating that DTE has failed “to meet several extended deadlines to produce proof of adequate financing.”
The MOU between the groups was set to expire March 31, but this deadline kept getting extended in anticipation of DTE providing proof of financing.
DTE is reportedly still looking into getting financing to purchase the plant despite MRC’s intent to court other potential buyers.
The Bangor Daily News reports that DTE has had issues providing proof of financing in the past. A deal for DTE to purchase a waste-to-energy facility in Allentown, Pennsylvania, fell through after the company couldn’t provide proof of financing, Allentown City Solicitor Jerry Snyder wrote in a 2014 letter.
The Bangor Daily News also reports that DTE CEO Rob Van Naarden “has mischaracterized his company’s past domestic and foreign work as his company has negotiated its purchase of the Hampden plant. The company has listed technical advisers on its website without their knowledge and claimed to have developed a waste processing plant in Japan, though the company’s Japanese business partner said Delta Thermo had no involvement with its Japanese operations.”