Ashland Biomass Plant to Resume Operations

Maine Public | By Ed Morin

Published August 5, 2014 at 6:50 AM EDT

ASHLAND, Maine — A biomass to electricity facility in Aroostook County that has been idle since March 2011 due to market conditions is expected to resume full operations in December. Larry Richardson is CEO of ReEnergy, which bought the Ashland plant after it had been shut down as part of a portfolio transaction. He says ReEnergy has been actively seeking ways to reopen the facility.

"Recently here, over the last 60-90 days, we really identified a combination of factors that is allowing us to reopen the plant," Richardson says.

Richardson says restarting the operation will restore 25 direct jobs and an estimated 150 indirect jobs associated with the facility.

Business and Economy

Ed Morin

Ed is a Maine native who spent his early childhood in Livermore Falls before moving to Farmington. He graduated from Mount Blue High School in 1970 before going to the University of Maine at Orono where he received his BA in speech in 1974 with a broadcast concentration. It was during that time that he first became involved with public broadcasting. He served as an intern for what was then called MPBN TV and also did volunteer work for MPBN Radio.

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