Thomaston has a direct and sustantial interest in participating in this hearing," wrote the town’s attorney, Paul Gibbons, in a Nov. 15 letter to the Board of Environmental Protection. The request to intervene is a procedural step that interested parties or individuals take when they want to weigh in on particular rule making or permit processing. In order to intervene, petitioners must demonstrate that they would be directly or substantially affected by a decision.

For 13 years, the DEP’s waste bureau has been negotiating with Dragon over the proper disposal and closure of the plant’s 845,000t, 15-acre cement kiln dust pile and its 12-acre clinker pile, both of which consist of byproducts from cement manufacturing. Dragon has been operating in Thomaston since 1928 and grown in operation over the last decade. Headquartered in Portland, Dragon has more than 225 full-time employees statewide. In addition to its concrete division, Dragon operates the only cement plant in New England in Thomaston. The cement is supplied to most ready mix companies in the state and to others throughout New England by barge through Coastal Cement terminals in Newington, NH and Boston.