The $250,000 request for Brownville would build a Penquis Collaborative Solid Waste and Recycling Center. This facility would be cooperatively managed by several Eastern Piscataquis towns and townships, and would be an efficient alternative to paying for hauling solid waste to a facility outside the county.

The $750,000 request for Milo would be used to provide town sewer services to the new Eastern Piscataquis Industrial Park site. The funds would upgrade the existing 3,940 feet of 6” clay sewer line to 10" PVC pipe and extend the line another 1,260 feet to the industrial park site.

According to PCEDC Executive Director Thomas Kittredge, “These two projects are important to the Eastern Piscataquis region from both a community and an economic development perspective. The Penquis Collaborative Solid Waste and Recycling Center will allow those participating communities to save valuable municipal funds, as well as keep more of them circulating in the local economy, instead of sending them to another county. The addition of sewer services to the industrial park site will make it far more attractive for business development, as well as dramatically increase the amount of land that could be potentially utilized at that site, by eliminating the need for land and capital-intensive onsite septic systems.”

These requests were submitted to the office of Congressman Michael Michaud at the end of January, and to the offices of Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins at the end of February. A decision on them is not expected until late 2009.

The Piscataquis County Economic Development Council (PCEDC) is a countywide organization whose mission is to stimulate long-term sustainable economic development and growth throughout the region.