Athens meets on biomass plant Residents air concerns during hearing held to validate reapplication

ATHENS – More than 150 concerned residents packed the Athens Elementary School on Tuesday night, seeking information about the proposed construction of a $90 million biomass plant in this rural community.

It was their first opportunity to ask GenPower representatives questions, since no public hearing had been held previously – a fact that did not escape the notice of the Maine Department of Environmental Protection.

Bryce Sproul of the DEP’s Air Quality Division confirmed earlier Tuesday that GenPower had withdrawn its application for the Athens facility due to the lack of a public hearing.

But Sproul said that Tuesday night’s meeting was considered by the department to meet that requirement. GenPower, based in Massachusetts, will now have to reapply for the permit, the state official said.

GenPower could create at least 24 new jobs at the facility, which would take up to two years to construct. It is expected to generate $248,000 in new tax revenue for Athens.

Grass-roots opposition sprouted in earnest, however, as Athens area residents stated they won’t trade tax revenue for good health. One local group, Citizens Against Pollution In Town, has held weekly rallies and protests in both Athens and Augusta.

During the evening meeting, residents’ questions centered around their position that toxins will be released in the air as GenPower burns demolition debris to generate electricity.

One resident, Nancy Clark, who lives just down the road from the proposed site, expressed concerns about airborne toxins that might affect her family members who suffer from asthma.

“The thought of having a 160-foot smokestack down in the valley, with plumes of smoke, bothers me,” she told GenPower representatives. “When I consider all the possible health problems that can develop, I must speak.”

Thomas Emero, chief counsel for GenPower, tried to quell residents’ concerns. He said the plant would be the safest of its type in Maine and one of the most technologically advanced in the U.S.

“There is a vast difference between existing plants and the one GenPower hopes to build in Athens,” Emero said. “The GenPower plant will be cleaner and less polluting than any other biomass plant in Maine.”

Emero said there are misconceptions swirling around the project proposal, including that the plant would burn 100 percent construction demolition debris.

He said it will burn a percentage of wood waste, which contains only trace amounts of other materials and is not hazardous.

Emero also said about 60 trucks a day would be coming to the Athens site, not the 200 trucks predicted by opponents.

The company representative also clarified that the plant would operate with a boiler, not an incinerator, and that the company would not be paid by out-of-state companies to take in the wood waste.

Emero also said that although no other New England state is burning construction demolition debris, it is not illegal. It is highly regulated, however, he said.