Request to modify pier hints at plans for long-dormant Bucksport riverfront site

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • March 19, 2026

A long-vacant riverfront industrial property just upriver from Bucksport’s former paper mill site is getting some official attention that may be a sign someone wants to put it back to use. Sprague International Properties recently applied to the state to transfer and modify a lease on submerged lands where a pier extends from the parcel into the Penobscot River, the first major sign of life there in years, according to a town official. It would reduce the lease footprint of the existing 50-by-50-foot pier. The former oil terminal north of the town center off River Road, known as Sprague North and called the “coal pocket” locally, was once a delivery port for coal and sulfur, then stored home heating fuels in large tanks until 1995. It has been vacant for decades and long eyed for various economic development projects.