The region has simply run out of land on which to apply the total amount of septic waste now generated in Greenville, Shirley, Beaver Cove and the unorganized territories.

With major development proposed in the region, the pressure is on to find a site large enough to accommodate the region's present needs and any future expansion.

"There has not been 1 gallon of increased disposal capacity anywhere in Piscataquis County for the last 25 years, yet development has placed an ever increasing burden on an infrastructure that is woefully inadequate," David Thorp, a local septic waste contractor and a Shirley selectman, said this week. "The Moosehead region is now at a turning point, and the direction we, as elected officials, take will affect this region for years to come."

The region needs to set aside for present and future development a very large land base on which to spread waste, Thorp told Greenville selectmen Wednesday. Finding such a site has been problematic.

"We have been looking strenuously for five years" without success, he said. A site that Thorp owned in Shirley was proposed for septic waste spreading, but abutting landowners blocked the effort.

Thorp and others hope that Plum Creek Timber Co., which has proposed major development in the Moosehead Lake region, will provide acreage for septic waste disposal.

Catherine Carroll, director of the Land Use Regulatory Commission, whose office is reviewing a proposed concept plan filed by Plum Creek to develop nearly 1,000 lots across 426,000 acres in the region, said septic sludge is allowed without a permit in Plum Creek's general management zone if the site is in compliance with DEP regulations. About 80 percent of Plum Creek's land is in that jurisdiction, she said.

The company's concept plan includes a provision to accommodate land application of septic waste on its backlands if DEP allows, she said.

Jim Lehner, Plum Creek's general manager in the Northeast region, said Friday that his company would work with any municipality to provide a suitable place for septic waste should it be needed.

Just where septic waste generated by Plum Creek's proposed expansion would go must be addressed during the review process now under way, Carroll said.

"It's going to be a very good question to be asking ourselves," she said. "It's a very valid question to be asking." This, as well as who would handle police and fire protection, solid waste and road maintenance, has to be hammered out in advance, she said.

Comment on these issues is encouraged during "scoping" sessions to be held later this month.

The scoping sessions, not to be confused with a public hearing, will allow the public to help identify the issues and the kinds of questions that should be considered during review of the proposed concept plan, she said.

These scoping sessions are planned, at 6 p.m. Aug. 16 at the Greenville High School auditorium; Aug. 18 at Rockwood Community Building; Aug. 22 at Sky Lodge Conference Center in Jackman, and Aug. 24 at Maple Hill Farm Inn and Conference Center in Hallowell.

Meanwhile, Thorp has rallied local officials to help find a solution and plans to seek support from Piscataquis and Somerset county commissioners. While the state requires that organized towns have a place to spread septic waste, there are no such provisions for unorganized territories, he said.

For years, Greenville operated a septic waste site and maintained storage tanks at the Moosehead Sanitary District plant off Spruce Street. It also was made available to Beaver Cove and Shirley. The permit for the location, however, expired on Oct. 9, 2003, although the town continued its use in 2004.

Since then, Thorp has taken the septic waste to an Abbot facility, but that facility has nearly reached its limit.

Greenville officials have since submitted an application for reuse of the site but were notified that the Department of Environmental Protection reduced the yearly site volume to be allowed from about 123,000 to 106,000 gallons of waste.

Rick Haffner of the Division of Solid Waste Management for DEP confirmed Friday that the volume had been revised downward based on recommendations from other agriculture agencies. He said he planned to forward the application to his superiors on Friday for approval.

Greenville alone generated 117,000 gallons of septic waste last year, according to Thorp. Together, Greenville, Beaver Cove and Shirley generated 198,000 gallons last year. With those gallons, along with the septic waste generated in the unorganized territories, Thorp said the region is fast approaching 400,000 gallons a year without considering Plum Creek's proposed development.

What the region needs is a 15-acre site that would allow for up to 600,000 gallons a year, Thorp said.
"This content originally appeared as a copyrighted article in the Monday, August 08, 2005 edition of the Bangor Daily NEWS and is used here with permission."