ROCKLAND, Maine — The company that wants to build a natural gas-fired power plant in Rockland is planning to drop its option to buy city owned land and instead pursue development of the project on private property.
City Manager James Chaousis said Thursday morning that the City Council was expected to vote later this month to terminate its option with a natural gas plant developer, ending an agreement that has met considerable opposition from area residents.
But Evan Coleman, spokesman for Rockland Energy Center, said later Thursday that the company has access to private property and plans to proceed early next year with its plan to build the $200 million facility on that land.
“An agreement between two private parties is in our best interest,” Coleman said.
He declined to say what site was being considered.
Coleman said he believes the public will be pleasantly surprised when it sees the plans and the design of the plant.
Chaousis said Thursday that the city had yet to have a discussion with Rockland Energy Center about its plans for the city property; thus, there was simply not enough time to reach a purchase and sales agreement before the option for the city owned land is set to expire Jan. 28.
Last May, councilors authorized the city manager to negotiate and execute an option agreement between the city and Rockland Energy on about 18 acres of adjacent city-owned parcels, where City Hall and the public services garage are located. That agreement was signed Aug. 1, with the developer paying the city $1,000 per month for the land purchase option.
The company has said it was interested in constructing a $200 million plant that would use natural gas to generate electricity to be sold on the power grid and steam that could be used by local industries.
Amy Files of Renew Rockland welcomed the news that the city was terminating the option. The citizen group has lobbied for options other than fossil fuels for energy use in the community and had opposed the natural gas proposal. Several residents criticized the use of natural gas and expressed concern about emissions.
“The City Council and city manager are doing their job to protect Rockland from a rushed business deal,” Files said.
Files said bringing natural gas to the area has no significant benefit for locals in regard to producing electricity because Maine is an energy exporter — and building the natural gas infrastructure here would be expensive. She said the cheapest way for Mainers to heat their homes is with heat pumps, and that cost becomes drastically cheaper when solar is added to the mix.
“Encouraging anyone to invest in new natural gas infrastructure that currently does not exist — or suggesting that any Mainer should spend thousands to convert their heating systems to natural gas — makes no economic sense,” Files said. “And when you factor in the damaging impact that natural gas has [between the methane, which is much more damaging than carbon and the fracking] on our climate, it would be a wonder how anyone would see a new natural gas plant in the midcoast as a sound long-term investment.”
The city manager said Rockland Energy Center and the city had mutually agreed to terminate the option early. The council is scheduled to officially vote to terminate the option agreement at its Dec. 14 meeting.
Before construction could begin, the proposed natural gas plant would still need state and federal environmental permits.
Coleman said Rockland Energy expects to participate in the next round of submissions to the Maine Public Utilities Commission for approval of long-term contracts to sell electricity generated from the plant either to Emera Maine or Central Maine Power. He said the next round is likely to be in January.
The company also has previously said that an existing natural gas line would have to be extended to Rockland. The closest the pipeline comes to Rockland is Windsor.