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Bill Targets Biomass Company Over Unpaid Logging Contracts

Bill Targets Biomass Company Over Unpaid Logging Contracts

Photo: 560 WGAN Newsradio


AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) Maine lawmakers are considering a bill to ensure that loggers and contractors get paid by Stored Solar, the owner of two biomass energy plants that are set to receive a taxpayer-subsidized bailout.

Maine Public Radio reports that the proposal, which also recommends that the state attorney general investigate the company, is unusual because it seeks to penalize a specific company. Stored Solar is accused of withholding between $200,000 and $1.5 million to contractors last year.

The bill comes two years after the Legislature decided to use taxpayer money to prop up the ailing biomass industry. The 2016 bill was bipartisan, and Republican Gov. Paul LePage signed it, but LePage has since called it a mistake.

Stored Solar has described the debts as “invoicing disputes.”

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