BIDDEFORD — A deal between Biddeford and Casella Waste Systems Inc. to buy and close Maine Energy Recovery Co. could take longer than originally anticipated because of required state licensing at a landfill in Old Town.

The Biddeford City Council voted in July to authorize the city to buy the Maine Energy trash-to-energy incinerator for $6.65 million from owner Casella Waste Systems. The anticipated closing date for the deal was Nov. 15, almost four months after the city council vote.

The purchase and sale agreement is contingent upon licensing that would allow the Juniper Ridge Landfill in Old Town, which is operated by Casella, to accept municipal solid waste currently processed in Biddeford.

The state’s Bureau of General Services, which owns Juniper Ridge, and Casella submitted on Sept. 12 an application to amend the existing solid waste license, according to Samantha DePoy-Warren, spokeswoman for the Maine Department of Environmental Protection. The state has until Oct. 3 to accept the application as complete.

The completion of the application triggers a 20-day period in which people can request a public hearing.

“Because this is an issue of significant statewide public interest and impact, Commissioner Patricia Aho had already determined she would be very amenable to a request for a public hearing,” DePoy-Warren said. “We have every expectation a request will be submitted.”

It is premature for the department to speculate when the public hearing would be held, but the entire process will not be complete by the Nov. 15 closing date for the MERC deal, DePoy-Warren said.

The state tries to make the process “very transparent and inclusive,” which takes time, she said. The hearing would be held in the Augusta area.

Biddeford City Manager John Bubier said city officials are more interested in the DEP’s response to the application for Juniper Ridge than the time it takes to complete the review. He said officials didn’t anticipate the public hearing when they developed the anticipated time line with the Nov. 15 closing date and doesn’t think the delay will derail the deal.

While state officials address the permitting issues, local officials are “poking holes in the floor” of the MERC facility as part of the city’s due diligence, Bubier said.

Aho sent a letter to state and Casella representatives in response to the application notifying them the department would revisit a Jan. 31 public benefit determination that approved a 9.35 million-cubic-yard expansion at Juniper Ridge. That decision was appealed but later upheld by the Board of Environmental Protection, DePoy-Warren said.

In the letter, Aho said bringing waste to Juniper Ridge that previously went to Biddeford “proposes a material change” in the facts upon which the public benefit determination was made. Aho asked the representatives to contact DEP staff to discuss the procedure for modifying the determination, but the department has not yet hard from those officials, DePoy-Warren said.

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