Mainebiz

W W W. M A I N E B I Z . B I Z 11 J U LY 1 1 , 2 0 1 6 organizations include Consumers for Affordable Health Care, Disability Rights Maine, Maine Children's Alliance, Maine Coalition Against Sexual Assault, Maine Equal Justice Partners, Maine Primary Care Association and Maine Women's Policy Center. The U.S. Department of Transportation awarded a total of $947,680 in fund- ing to two airports in Maine through the Federal Aviation Administration. Eastern Slope Regional Airport in Fryeburg will receive $552,986 to fund reconstruction of approximately 7,800 square yards of the existing apron pavement that has reached the end of its use. Augusta State Airport in Augusta will receive $394,694 to fund rehabilitation of the apron, runway and taxiway pavement, as well as removing obstructions on the runway. Sherwin-Williams, a national paint and painting supplies retailer, opened a store at 445 Center St. in Auburn. 'Gold rush mentality' dampens seaweed industry Organizers of e Maine Seaweed Festival canceled the event amid concerns about the lack of sustain- ability in the nation's largest sea- weed-producing state. Festival orga- nizer Hillary Krapf, who also runs Moon and Tide, a seaweed prod- ucts-and-education company, told the Associated Press that Maine's seaweed industry is currently under a "gold rush mentality" as more and more companies are wanting to get a piece of the profitable industry. Krapf said Maine doesn't have the infrastructure needed to process and sell the product in a sustainable fash- ion. "I would like to see more regula- tion and accountability. We can feel good about what we are promoting and make sure we are doing right by the ocean and its resources," Krapf told the AP. Between 2004 and 2014, Maine overtook California as the largest producer of seaweed, quadru- pling its harvest. Rockland welcomes HVAC wholesaler Winsupply, a wholesale HVAC and plumbing supply company, plans to take over a building in the Rockland industrial park that most recently had been used for boat storage. Owner Sam Irish told the Bangor Daily News that when Winsupply of Rockland opens its doors at 28 Gordon Drive in August it will employ five people. e Rockland site is one of more than 500 Winsupply locations across the country. Sullivan Harbor Farms reopens under new ownership e Hancock-based Sullivan Harbor Farms, which was shut down by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in February for unsanitary condi- tions and food safety violations, has reopened under new ownership. "It's been quite a challenge for the company to deal with the problems inherited from former manage- ment," manager Debbie Butterwick told the Ellsworth American. "We're very excited about what the future brings." Although Butterwick told the American that it has yet to receive FDA clearance to smoke its own seafood, Sullivan Harbor is sell- ing numerous smoked-fish products from other local smokehouses. e newly reopened Route 1 location is also touting a large selection of made in Maine products, including a "Let's Eat and Drink Local" tasting area that serves local beers, Maine-made soda and lobster rolls. Butterwick told the American that with the focus on locally made products, she hopes that the location will be a draw for those looking for products made in the state. N O T E W O R T H Y M I D C O A S T & D O W N E A S T The Jackson Laboratory's Gene Expression Database, an open re- source for the international biomedi- cal research community, will receive a total of $10.5 million in support over the next five years from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development. Jackson Lab is based in Bar Harbor. The Midcoast Economic Development District in Damariscotta provided a $50,000 loan to Tilbury House T he Maine Public Utilities Commission has set a deadline of July 29 for bids seeking to tap a $13.4 mil- lion allocation created by the 127th Legislature to pay for above-market, two-year contracts for electricity created by biomass generators. Funding would come from the state's rainy day fund, which was reported to have $111 million in it earlier this year. e solicitation is guided by LD 1676, an emergency bill approved by lawmakers to help Maine's struggling logging industry, which has been rocked by closures at several paper mills and at Covanta Energy's biomass power plants in West Enfield and Jonesboro. In sup- porting that bill, the Professional Logging Contractors of Maine noted that 15% or more of 2,500 logging and trucking jobs in Maine could be lost due to those dou- ble-whammy blows. e biomass power RFP is intended to save some of those jobs. Under that law, the PUC is authorized to direct one or both of Maine's transmission and distribution utilities, Central Maine Power and Emera Maine, to enter into two-year contracts to purchase up to 80 megawatts of bio- mass-generated power at above-market rates. e solici- tation sets several requirements for prospective bidders, including that the biomass power plant must provide "in-state benefits, such as capital investments to improve long-term viability of the facility, permanent direct jobs, payments to municipalities, payments for fuel harvested in the state, payment for in-state resource access, in-state purchases of goods and services and construction-related jobs and purchases." But what if the only biomass company in Maine still operating — i.e., ReEnergy Holdings — is the only bidder? Does the solicitation then fail to meet the law's requirement that the bidding process be competitive? at's the question raised in a May 31 filing submit- ted by the Industrial Energy Consumers Group, which argues that the "competition-in-fact" definition should be applied to the process, requiring multiple bidders. "e commission has itself determined that the basic premise of competition in bidding is to have more than one bidder," wrote Tony Buxton, a Preti Flaherty lawyer who serves as counsel to the IECG. Citing a 2006 PUC ruling, Buxton quotes the PUC as previously stating "[a] solicitation process that yields only one bidder cannot be considered competitive" and that "lack of competing bids makes it extremely difficult to determine whether the prices are reasonable and in the public interest." But other interested parties express confidence in their written comments to the PUC that the process would be competitive even if there's a limited number of bids. "Emera Maine does not believe, however, that the statute meant to convey that the solicitation could not be competi- tive in the event only one or two entities submit bids," wrote Sarah Spruce, the utility's associate counsel. In its filing, ReEnergy Holdings argued that the law's two-year contractual limit and the 80-megawatt cap on the amount of power that can be purchased provide "assurance that any bidder's proposal must maximize the total in-state economic benefits their project provides at the lowest cost practicable." "e new law further requires that the successful bidders verify on an annual basis that projected in- state economic benefits generated during the term of the contract," wrote Charles Soltan, ReEnergy's attor- ney. "If not achieved, the commission may reduce the contract payment by the percentage difference between actual in-state benefits achieved and the projected in- state benefits. is is another of the many ways that the Legislature and PUC are assured of a competitive solicitation, and that contracts successfully achieve the intended goal of supporting the wider biomass and tax- payer communities." It's not an academic debate: If PUC concludes its solicitation is not competitive, it reserves the right to select no bidders and is not obligated to authorize any contracts. P O L I T I C S & C O. B Y J A M E S M C C A R T H Y Asking the $13.4M question: Will the PUC biomass bidding process be competitive? M I D C O A S T & D O W N E A S T

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