Wiscasset officials will go forward with efforts to clean up land near Mason Station, although the town manager believes meaningful development at the Birch Point site will not happen until something is done with the former power plant building that remains vacant on the riverfront. In the meantime, Maine Department of Environmental Protection wants to do more testing within and around the building for hazardous materials but said so far it has been denied entry by owner National Resources/Mason Station LLC.

When contacted by Wiscasset Newspaper, David R. Madore, DEP deputy commissioner, said the chemicals of concern at the site included, but were not limited to, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), waste oils, heavy metals and asbestos. “DEP attempts to work cooperatively with property owners when collecting samples from their property. At this site, the property owner has denied the DEP access to the site and site buildings for the purposes of collecting samples,” he responded in a June 15 email.

June 16, Wiscasset Newspaper sought comment from Daniel Pennessi and Joe Cotter of National Resources/Mason Station LLC on DEP’s request for environmental testing. “Our readers would also be interested in knowing what work is, or has recently taken place inside the Mason Station since workers have been observed going into and out of the building. And, what your plans are for the future use of this building,” the newspaper asked via email.

Ryan Gahagan of Treadwood, LLC, 68 Commercial St., Portland, responded June 17: “Mr. Cotter forwarded your email to me. My name is Ryan Gahagan and I’m working with my partner Aaron Svedlow on a potential plan to acquire and redevelop Mason Station. We are in the very early stages of evaluating the opportunity and will be speaking with the Wiscasset Select Board in executive session on Tuesday, June 20th. After that meeting, we will be able to speak more freely about the process we’re putting together. Regarding the topic of your email, our plans also include working closely with the DEP and have already reached out to set up a meeting to understand the issues and identify opportunities for remediation, clean-up and reuse.” 

The town foreclosed years ago on a portion of the Birch Point peninsula where Mason Station is, for back taxes, and began land remediation efforts. “Last year we cleaned up the ash ponds and we’ve received a ($700,000) grant to clean up the North Point fill area,” stated Town Manager Dennis Simmons in response to questions emailed by Wiscasset Newspaper.

Simmons explained about 8.3 acres of the peninsula including the former power station and the immediate area around it remain privately owned. He said the property tax bill is sent to Mason Station LLC, 485 West Putnam Avenue, Greenwich, Connecticut. Simmons added, the owner had not yet paid the 2022 property taxes and owed the town just shy of $46,000.

“The town is actively engaged in getting the area cleaned up, including contact with the DEP’s effort to gain access to the site for testing,” continued Simmons. “Our expectations are that the DEP will take whatever actions are necessary to insure the health and safety of town residents and visitors and whatever actions are necessary to protect our fragile environment from whatever lurks inside Mason Station,” he stated.

Simmons remained optimistic. “Hopefully Mason Station LLC will get on a parallel track with the town and begin cleaning up their site. Then we can find the best and highest use for all of the property. I envision something new and exciting for the town,” he wrote.

“State law gives the Department the authority to enter any property during reasonable hours to inspect, test, or determine compliance.  However, the Department needs the consent of the property owner/agent or an administrative search warrant to enter any building,” Madore said.

Madore noted DEP contacted Daniel Pennessi and Joe Cotter of National Resources (Mason Station LLC) by letter last November and again in January asking the testing be carried out in accordance with the agency’s requirements: “to assess sediment near each outfall pipe for any impacts from historic operations as well as any recent or ongoing releases.” The letter stated there were 24 outfall pipes that discharge to the Sheepscot River.

“If Mason Station LLC fails to respond to this letter in a timely manner, fails to submit an adequate sampling plan, or fails to execute such a plan in a timely fashion, the Department will have no choice but to proceed with efforts to collect its own samples from the Site and its buildings and pursue recovery of associated costs,” the letter continues.

The Jan. 25, 2023 DEP letter goes on to state: “This Site continues to pose an actual and potential threat to public health and safety and to the environment. The issues raised in this letter are to be considered in addition to the numerous issues raised and response activities requested by the Department and related to this Site, which are detailed in prior correspondence, including the draft Administrative Consent Order that was sent to Potentially Responsible Parties Mason Station LLC, FPL Energy Mason LLC, and Central Maine Power, on December 4, 2020, via email,” it concludes. The letter was signed by Chris Redmond, Manager, Uncontrolled Sites Program Bureau of Remediation & Waste Management Maine Department of Environmental Protection.

Madore was asked what recourse DEP had if Mason Station LLC’s owners refuse to comply with the request. “The department is currently considering our options,” he wrote back.

For decades the former power generating station was owned and operated by Central Maine Power Co. According to Wiscasset Newspaper files, the plant started producing electricity three weeks after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor Dec. 7, 1941. At that time the plant was Maine’s second largest electric generating facility operating 24/7. Mason Station was initially coal-fired, and was later converted to burn oil to generate its electricity. Until the former Maine Yankee nuclear power plant came online in 1972, it was Wiscasset's largest employer and largest taxpayer.

CMP sold Mason Station and the property around it to Florida Power and Light Company for $3.9 million in 2004. FPL in turn put the 33-acre site on the market a few years later and it was bought by Greenwich-based National Resources, a company “specializing in remediation and redevelopment of former industrial sites” as reported in the Wiscasset Newspaper story announcing the transaction. Other newspaper stories from 2012 and 2016 reported Mason Station’s Connecticut ownership had hired a company to begin remediation inside the former generating station and property that included removal of the former oil storage tanks on the south side of the plant. Other remediation included removal of generators, turbines and other electrical generating components housed within the building’s “powerhouse.”  Additional work has been carried out since; and on Friday, June 16, Wiscasset Newspaper, photographing the plant from the water, observed several men going into and out of the building’s main entrance which faces the river.