Photo / Courtesy Our Katahdin
Contamination cleanup will continue at Millinocket’s former Great Northern Paper Co. mill, now called One North, thanks to a $4 million EPA grant.
Updated: June 10, 2025
EPA funding will help jumpstart 'brownfields' cleanup at 25 Maine sites
FILE PHOTO / COURTESY DESIGNLAB
The EPA awarded funds for further cleanup at the One North industrial site in Millinocket.
The former Great Northern Paper Co. mill site in Millinocket is one of a number of contaminated areas across Maine to receive brownfields cleanup grants from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Our Katahdin, a Millinocket nonprofit that owns the 1,400-acre site and has been redeveloping and operating it as a mixed-use business hub called One North, was selected to receive a $4 million grant to clean up a fuel storage area and wood lot area.
Cleanup of the site is considered one step toward getting the parcel ready for redevelopment.
The mill complex has been vacant and unused since 2008. Great Northern Paper was once Millinocket's biggest employer. In the wake of the mill's closing, Millinocket has sought ways to diversify its economy and attract new residents and businesses.
The grant builds on Our Katahdin’s previous cleanup efforts and enables it to address remaining hazardous materials and deteriorated structures within the complex, said Sean Dewitt, the nonprofit’s president.
“In combination with strategic rail infrastructure investments by Maine DOT, this project will open new developable acreage and restore critical freight access, making the site highly competitive for industrial reuse,” he said.
More mill cleanups
The award was one of a total of $38 million the EPA earmarked for 25 brownfields cleanups across Maine.
In the Penobscot County town of Lincoln, a 369-acre former Lincoln Pulp and Tissue mill complex at 50 Katahdin Ave. is the subject of assessment and cleanup. EPA awarded the town of Lincoln $500,000 and the Sustainable Lincoln Corp. $400,000 for parts of the project.
The town’s grant will also address a former gasoline service station in downtown Lincoln.
In the Androscoggin County town of Lisbon, $500,000 will go toward an environmental site assessment and to develop cleanup plans for an area along Route 196 that includes a 7-acre former textile mill, a 100-acre property that once housed a construction firm and a 2,260-square-foot former automotive building.
“As a former mill town currently experiencing a strong resurgence, we look forward to using this funding to assess the town's underutilized properties, identify additional properties for assessment and to support redevelopment in Lisbon," said Ross Cunningham, Lisbon’s director of economic and community development.
A priority site in downtown Guilford is the former Duvaltex Mill, used as a sawmill in the early 1800s. The Piscataquis County Economic Development Council was awarded $500,000 to conduct environmental site assessments, create an information repository, conduct community engagement activities and prepare cleanup plans for that and other sites in Dover-Foxcroft and Guilford.
Southern Maine
The Greater Portland Council of Governments was awarded $500,000 to inventory sites, conduct environmental site assessments and develop cleanup and reuse plans for an area that includes the Portland peninsula and the city of Westbrook. Priority sites include a 25,000-square-foot blighted and vacant building, a 100,000-square-foot historic building and a former paper mill complex.
The grant allows the council to to unlock significant private investment in Cumberland County, said Kristina Egan, the council’s executive director.
“We're committed to using these federal resources to jumpstart the redevelopment of properties that would otherwise remain out of reach for the private sector,” Egan said.
The Portland Housing Authority was awarded $3.3 million to clean up a 1.5-acre site at 70 East Oxford St., historically used for affordable housing and currently housing four three-story 10-unit multifamily residential units that are proposed for demolition.
In Westbrook, $500,000 will go for environmental site assessments and updating and expanding a brownfield site inventory of a 0.25-mile area along both sides of the Presumpscot River.
The town of Standish will use $500,000 to conduct environmental site assessments and prepare site cleanup plans for priority sites that include the former Sylvania Factory.
Various entities received money for their brownfields revolving loan fund programs:
- The Greater Portland Council of Governments: $2 million
- City of South Portland: $1 million
- Southern Maine Planning and Development Commission: $650,000
- City of Portland: $2 million
Midcoast, downeast
The Midcoast Council of Governments will use $500,000 to conduct environmental site assessments and develop cleanup and reuse plans for an area that includes the city of Rockland and the towns of Thomaston and Brunswick.
The council was awarded another $1 million to capitalize a revolving loan fund to support cleanup activities focused on the city of Bath and the towns of Wiscasset and Warren.
“At a time when Maine is facing a housing shortage, flooding and storm surges impacting shoreland areas, and dwindling commercial space for small start-ups, cleaning up brownfield sites can be a way to address these issues while improving public health," said Maxwell Johnstone, the council’s senior planner.
The town of Warren got $4 million to clean up the 71-acre former Steamship Navigation site at 2287 Camden Road. Unused since the 1990s, it is contaminated with metals and inorganic contaminants.
In Belfast, $500,000 will go for environmental site assessments and cleanup plans for a 38-square-mile coastal parcel, including 5.5 acres formerly used as office space and a potato products company and 1.5 acres formerly used as an industrial freezer facility. Another $2 million will be used to clean up the 0.34-acre former Waldo County Superior Court House at 137 Church St. Funds also will be used to clean up the 0.27-acre Bradbury Manor site at 74 High St. in Belfast.
The Sunrise County Economic Council in Machias received $1 million to capitalize a revolving loan fund. Priority sites include a former town dump, Machias Valley Airport, a former pearl essence factory and a waterfront site with a history of railroad and industrial use.
The town of Bar Harbor will use $510,000 to clean up the Mount Desert Island YMCA site at 21 Park St., contaminated with metals and polyaromatic hydrocarbons.
The Hancock County Planning Commission go $500,000 to conduct environmental site assessments and develop reuse plans. The area includes Gouldsboro, Hancock and Stonington.
Other grants
- City of Caribou: $4 million to clean up the Steam Plant at the former Caribou Power Plant Complex at 142 Lower Lyndon St., adjacent to the Aroostook River.
- Maine Department of Economic and Community Development: $2 million for its brownfields revolving loan fund, including a power plant in Caribou and the Beals Linen property in Auburn.
- Maine Department of Environmental Protection: $2 million for states and Tribes to conduct environmental site assessments, prepare cleanup plans, reuse plans or planning charrettes and conduct community engagement activities. The area includes the cities of Auburn, Lewiston and Caribou.
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