Caribou will get a $4 million federal boost to clean up the remains of its former power plant near the Aroostook River.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced $38 million in brownfields funding on May 16 to benefit 25 projects throughout Maine. Caribou is the only community in northern Maine to receive a grant.

The defunct power plant on lower Lyndon Street has been vacant for 13 years and contains metals, asbestos and other dangerous materials. Cleanup will not only help the city in its quest to mitigate blight, but will spur ongoing plans to reclaim and revitalize the riverfront area into a recreational hub.

“The power plants and other vacant buildings have become blighted, and have [attracted] young people, vandalism and theft,” City Manager Penny Thompson said Tuesday. “The hazardous materials within the structures can be distributed citywide when unauthorized trespassers enter the building and then go into the community.”

The massive complex includes two large buildings — a 12,288-square-foot steam plant and 10,290-square-foot diesel plant — along with several outbuildings. Near the site is a public boat launch area.

What remains of Caribou’s defunct steam power plant sits at the edge of the Aroostook River on lower Lyndon Street. The EPA recently awarded the city $4 million to complete hazardous waste cleanup at the site. Credit: Courtesy of Penny Thompson

The $4 million grant will augment $2 million in government funding the city received last year for emergency cleanup at the steam plant. Caribou also received $900,000 from the EPA’s Brownfields program in 2023 to clean up and demolish the diesel plant.

Once the emergency response and removal is complete, work will start at the diesel plant, and then the final phase at the steam facility will take place, Thompson said.

The project’s total price tag is uncertain, but EPA will produce an update once the emergency action is complete. Based on similar projects in New England, the new grant should sufficiently cover hazard remediation and deconstruction at the steam plant, she said.

It will be a major turnaround for the 8-acre site that’s been part of Caribou’s landscape for 136 years. A dam and hydroelectric plant were built there in 1889, with the diesel plant following in 1949.

The now-defunct Caribou Water, Light and Power Co. operated the dam until the 1940s when Maine Public Service Co., now Versant Power, took over. In its heyday, the dam generated 30 megawatts of power for the city and nearby communities. But the plants and nearby agricultural facilities had dumped toxic waste for decades.

Caribou leaders have long wanted to redevelop the riverfront. Residents, town officials and the Caribou Riverfront Renaissance Committee worked to set things in motion, but cleanup had to happen before anyone could go near the area. City leaders couldn’t take on the task themselves because of the dangerous materials present.

EPA staff visited Caribou in 2022 to collect asbestos samples. They found other hazardous materials, including potential mercury-containing fixtures and switches, lead batteries, laboratory and boiler treatment chemicals, paint, solvents and other flammable items, according to an EPA project report.

Randi Mendes, project manager and community liaison for the Technical Assistance to Brownfields Communities program, based at the University of Connecticut, walks past the former diesel power plant in Caribou in this July 12, 2023, file photo. The city will use federal Brownfields funds to demolish the former plant. Credit: Melissa Lizotte / Aroostook Republican

The city hired County Environmental Engineering of Caribou to perform studies. The company noted more than 11,000 feet of asbestos pipe insulation and 14,000 square feet of surface material containing asbestos at the steam plant.

EPA ordered emergency removal to prevent public exposure to the material, which started in July.

The city has talked about several plans for the power plant site, including walking trails, residences and a campground. The nonprofit Atlantic Salmon for Northern Maine also wants to build a fish hatchery in the area.

When all the cleanup work is done, the site will be safe for residents and Caribou will at last be able to dive into its revitalization plans, Thompson said.

“Now, with EPA’s support, the City of Caribou will be able to limit the potential impacts of contamination that would negatively affect our community members,” she said. “We’re excited to continue envisioning a new chapter in our brownfields story that supports our local economy, and makes the city safer, healthier and stronger.”