BUCKSPORT, Maine (AP) - The federal Environmental Protection Agency is providing $200,000 to help a former Maine mill town recovery from the loss of its paper plant.
The EPA is giving the money to the Eastern Maine Development Corporation to help develop and implement a plan for the site of the former Verso Paper Mill in Bucksport. The mill once employed more than 500 people and closed in December 2014.
Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King say the money is from the Brownfield Area-Wide Planning program that is used to help communities clean up old industrial sites for new uses.
The 117-acre area that housed the paper mill is located along the Penobscot River. It includes vacant buildings that once housed a tannery and a steel mill.