BUCKSPORT, Maine — The town of Bucksport lost 40 percent of its tax revenue when the Verso Paper Mill closed in 2014. A decade later, the town is still fighting the fallout in the form of the mill’s old landfill.
The fill, now owned by Bucksport Mill LLC, a subsidiary of American Iron & Metal (AIM), has not been used for waste in four years. The town wants the property closed for good.
Bucksport Town Manager Susan Lessard has been fighting for the town’s future since she took office in 2015.
"Bucksport's no longer a community with a mill and has worked really hard over the past almost 10 years to turn the page and be Bucksport without a mill," Lessard said. "Those little pieces left of the mill, meaning the landfill, don't fit."
No new private landfills are allowed to be built per Maine state law; however, municipalities and quasi-municipalities can operate their own.
AIM recently said it was in talks with three potential unnamed buyers, causing community concern in Bucksport. Lessard feels the plan was a "thinly veiled attempt to open a commercial landfill."
She knows that if a serious buyer were to come around, her community would be willing to fight.
"It seems unlikely to me that any community in Maine would want to go to war," Lessard said. "If that landfill were to be acquired, it would be just that."
AIM did not respond to NEWS CENTER Maine's request for comment.
One of many community members passionate about stopping the landfill from reopening is Don White.
"The landfill here is a great threat to the river here. As are all landfills up and down the Penobscot," White said.
Fellow Bucksport resident Ralph Chapman spent eight years in the Maine State Legislature and is encouraged by the effort he sees within his community.
"In order to protect our environment, our watersheds, our quality of life, requires citizen activism," Chapman said. "You do have the power as citizens to affect what happens in your community."
In an April letter, the Maine Department of Environmental Protection put stipulations in place requiring AIM to increase water testing in and around the landfill.
If AIM is unable to find a viable buyer for the property, it will be forced to close the landfill by the end of 2026. A plan for which is mandated by the DEP to be submitted by Nov. 1.