LEWISTON – KTI Bio Fuels received a city permit allowing it to continue operations, but councilors came under fire for earlier putting off the decision.

Councilors approved a junkyard permit for KTI, a subsidiary of Casella Solid Waste, two weeks after tabling a decision but approving several other junkyard permits.

“We should not even be talking about this, at this time,” said Robert Reed, of 58 Albert St., a City Council candidate. “You cleared all of the other applications, but held this one because the name Casella was associated with it. You had no reason to stop this permit, not unless you were going to stop every other junkyard permit in the city.”

Councilors turned back a deal that would have let Casella manage the city’s landfill in September.

The KTI facility takes in building and demolition debris from Maine and other New England states. Trucks bring in bricks, masonry, wood, concrete and other building materials from demolished buildings and store them at the KTI facility. The material is sorted and recyclable wood is removed and sold to electrical generation facilities. The rest of the debris is trucked to the Hampden and Juniper Ridge landfills.

Councilors voted on renewed permits for four other junkyards at a meeting last month, just before tabling the KTI vote. But Councilor Stavros Mendros said Tuesday that councilors needed to make sure the company was operating within state guidelines before granting a city permit.

Stavros said a letter from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection convinced him the operation was sound.

“But I would hope that this and any future City Council would do the due diligence necessary on any decision like this,” Mendros said.

KTI has been in operation on Plourde Parkway since 1986. It’s been a Casella subsidiary since 1999.