American Iron Metal Begins $13.4M Closure of Troubled Bucksport Landfill Years After State Order
Work has commenced on the permanent closure of a 109-acre landfill in Bucksport, Maine, owned by Montreal-based scrap metal company American Iron & Metal (AIM). This action comes three years after the Maine Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) ordered its closure due to non-compliance with operating permits. The landfill, which historically served Bucksport's former paper mill, was acquired by AIM following the mill's closure in 2014. The closure project is estimated to cost over $13.4 million. Despite local frustration and distrust stemming from AIM's previous attempts to delay closure and reopen the site, the initiation of work is seen as a positive development. However, doubts persist regarding the company's ability to meet the end-of-year closure deadline. The closure involves installing a cover system of sand, compacted soil, and topsoil, along with a gas management system and decommissioning a leachate storage pond. AIM also owns a dam on Silver Lake in Bucksport, which it is seeking to aband... 
