Twitter
Facebook
Reddit
Digg
Tell us what you think!Send a letter to the editor about this or any other article in The Maine Campus.
Construction on an expansion to the Advanced Engineered Wood Composites Center (AEWC) at the University of Maine has been delayed for more than five months from a planned start date of May, which has resulted in at least four layoffs.
The building has been in conceptual stages for more than a year and is intended to provide the AEWC with an additional 18,500 square feet of space to test various components of the center’s research, particularly windmill blades being manufactured at the university for use in offshore energy production. At present, metal fencing along with a few office trailers surround the area in the rear of the AEWC where the building will be erected.
According to John Dicentes, project manager for Cianbro, the project’s head construction company, the hindrance is based on an issue with unrelated construction 11 years ago on a portion of the commuter parking lot located in front of the Collins Center for the Arts.
Dicentes said Oct. 6 that when the university initially applied for the building permit, it easily made its way through local and state approval.
The Construction permit is pending approval with the Environmental Protection Agency, which isn’t allowing plans to go forth.
“We [Cianbro] don’t exactly know the specific details surrounding the EPA’s reason for deferring the project and what little we do know the EPA has asked us not to discuss with outside parties,” Dicentes said. “I can tell you that whatever happened 11 years ago doesn’t concern us or the University of Maine, but rather a third party involved in the construction process. We are all doing our best to address the EPA’s concerns.”
The deferred construction has not yet cost Cianbro revenue.
Some subcontractors involved in the project, who asked not to be named because they feared backlash against themselves or the companies they work for, are expressing concern as the local economy continues to face construction setbacks such as the one at the AEWC. One subcontracter said at least four workers laid off from the company he works for had expected to begin the construction in May.
“Whatever it is that is taking the EPA so long to get moving on this thing, I wish they would just resolve it. … The EPA is costing us money and keeping good people out of work for what is probably a minor issue,” said one subcontractor involved with the plumbing and heating aspect of construction.
“I was counting on that job to get some guys going,” the subcontractor said. “They can’t even put a shovel in the ground up there … till this gets straightened out with the university and the EPA.”
The windmill blades manufactured at the university are a part of a larger project involving the AEWC testing wind turbines that harness coastline energy. Larry Parent, the senior research and development program manager at the center, said that the delay has not affected any contractual agreements that require the materials to be tested in a timely manner.
“This isn’t the ideal situation we would have liked to see, but the important thing is that our agreements with any outside parties are not being influenced by the holdup and any grant money is certainly not being affected as well,” Parent said. “Our current facilities still allow us to test what needs to be tested. The addition will allow us to accomplish more once it is finished, but now we are making do with ample space.”
Parent said that he was aware of the EPA’s involvement in the project, but his position at the center does not involve him in those types of issues.
Prior to the setback, the new addition was scheduled to be finished sometime in January 2009.
