BIDDEFORD — On Thursday, a legislative committee plans to look into potential improprieties in the hiring and spending practices of an energy education outreach organization that was funded by taxpayer money.

The Legislature’s Energy and Technology Committee asked for financial records and other documentation from the Maine Green Energy Alliance, an organization that originally had ties to the Vermont-based Casella Waste Systems, Inc., the parent company of the Maine Energy Recovery Company incinerator in Biddeford.

Committee members questioned leaders of the alliance, and the quasi-governmental Efficiency Maine Trust, which is leading the state’s weatherization efforts.

Efficiency Maine is charged with allocating a $30 million federal grant won last year. Funding specifically for the alliance was included in the grant application.

The trust’s board approved funding of $1.1 million to the Alliance in year one, of the $3 million approved for the alliance in the U.S. Department of Energy grant.

Last month, the alliance voted to wind down its activities and not spend the entire allocation from the trust. Instead, approximately $500,000 in unspent money will be used by Efficiency Maine for more weatherization projects.

The mission of the Alliance was to conduct outreach and educate homeowners in communities it contracted with about how to apply for weatherization funding.

However, in its first five months, the organization had spent approximately $350,000, mostly in salaries, and only 50 retrofits were completed through the alliance’s efforts.

By contrast, Efficiency Maine’s energy efficiency rebate program had funded 1,700 retrofits by Dec. 31. The money that would have gone to the Alliance will instead help fund Efficiency Maine’s rebate program, which was in danger of running out of money.

The legislative committee review of the Alliance’s practices took place after an article by the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting was published in the Journal Tribune and several other papers last month. The article questioned why the agency didn’t go through a bidding process to get funding.

Thomas Federle, who helped start the Alliance, pointed out that funding specifically for the Alliance was included in the grant application. The article also pointed out that some of those behind the alliance ”“ such as Federle ”“ had ties to Gov. John Baldacci.

Committee members were also concerned when it was learned that a number of Alliance employees had ties to the Democratic Party.

“It certainly raised some eyebrows,” said Senate Chairman Michael Thibodeau, R-Waldo.

Lost in the review of financial information and hiring practices is that the Alliance originated through a task force appointed by Baldacci in 2009 to close the Maine Energy Recovery Company incinerator that many believe is a blight in Biddeford’s downtown.

During the task force’s discussions, the solution to the Maine Energy problem changed from closing the facility to reconfiguring the technology to be more environmentally-friendly, using federal taxpayer money.

Many aspects of that plan were pulled after Biddeford Mayor Joanne Twomey quit the task force in January 2010 and the group disbanded.

However, a sub-grant for the Maine Green Energy Alliance, developed by the task force, remained in the state’s application to the DOE.

When the Alliance received funding, Twomey questioned whether that money would go to Casella.

Now that the alliance is under the microscope, Twomey said, “I feel vindicated.”

Federle denied that Casella got any money from the grant. He said the company’s ties to the Alliance ended in the spring.

When Twomey quit the task force, she said there were other plans in the works, that she was unable to discuss, to deal with Maine Energy.

City Manager John Bubier said recently that he is not aware of any new developments.

The Maine Department of Environmental protection is developing a new air license agreement for Maine Energy, but whether any provisions can be included to make the incinerator a better neighbor is unclear.

The mayor did raise the issue at a recent City Council workshop of using a different waste handler when the city’s contract with Maine Energy concludes next year.

However, said Bubier, many councilors objected to this because it could cost the city three times the current cost to dispose of its waste.

— Staff Writer Dina Mendros can be contacted at 282-1535, Ext. 324 or dmendros@journaltribune.com.