Plans to update and expand an existing sludge digester in Brunswick led to a packed house at Monday night’s Town Council workshop.
Viridi Energy is looking to expand its facility at Brunswick Landing. The facility would receive biosolid material from sewage treatment plants and use it to produce both renewable gas and energy.
The company says this project would create enough renewable natural gas to heat half the single-family homes in Brunswick. But not all residents are sold on the promise.
“We have real concerns,” Brunswick resident Sandra Carslick said. “Number one, this going through our neighborhood and the toxicity and chance of even a spill or not. And even greater is the odor.”
The facility plans to take 85,000 tons of biosolids a year and in turn send less than 10,000 tons to Juniper Ridge Landfill.
“Our goal is to run at 50 percent or higher Maine content,” Viridi Energy Project Developer Dana Husnay said. “At this point, if we can’t get Maine content, we will turn north or south for that.”
Under the plan, as many as 15 trucks would deliver biosolids and sewage to the facility every weekday, with one to two trucks outgoing daily.
On Monday, city councilors and residents asked questions about the smell and possible truck leakage of materials.
“They’re sealed around the edges, and they lock the, it’s not like a regular gravel dump truck, it has seals, but the top is open and tarped over,” Brunswick Sewer District General Manager Rob Pontau said.
Some residents like Amy Self are still grappling with the impacts of the PFAS spill last summer in Brunswick, which happened under the watch of the Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority.
MRRA is now working with Viridi and Casella Waste Systems, which operates Juniper Ridge Landfill, on this potential digester project.
Self worries about the town handling more toxic materials and said it’s had long-lasting impacts on her water.
“We went ahead and connected ourselves to town water out of our own pocket to the tune of $35,000,” Self said.
Project leaders said at the workshop they’re working with the state to ensure the facility meets standards for handling of materials. They said they have submitted an air permit amendment, and have a solid waste amendment ready to go, adding that they are ready to talk about the contract zoning process.
CBS13 reached out to the company, but no one was available for an interview Tuesday.