State regulators have ordered the former owner of the HoltraChem facility in Orrington to remove hundreds of thousands of tons of contaminated soil from the site in what would be one of the largest environmental cleanup projects in Maine history.
The Maine Department of Environmental Protection has been working with representatives from Mallinckrodt Inc., for several years to dismantle and remove most of the contaminated structures at the former factory.
But the state and the company have clashed over how to address the soils laced with mercury and other toxins that are buried in five large landfills on the site, which is located on the banks of the Penobscot River.
After several months of intensive yet unsuccessful negotiations, DEP officials signed an order Monday requiring Mallinckrodt to begin the cleanup of the soils by May.
DEP Commissioner David Littell said the department decided it could no longer afford to wait to begin the cleanup of what he described as “the most heavily contaminated site in the state.”
“We moved forward with this remedy because it is necessary to protect the public health of residents in the area and to protect the long-term ecological health of the Penobscot River in the Orrington area,” Littell said.
HoltraChem Manufacturing Co. produced chlorine and other chemicals at the factory beginning in the mid-1960s. At the time the factory closed in 2000, HoltraChem was New England’s largest polluter of toxic mercury.
Mallinckrodt, which is the sole former owner still in business, has spent more than $35 million removing metallic mercury, mercury sludge and contaminated storage tanks and buildings from the 235-acre site.
But the company has resisted DEP plans to remove an estimated 370,000 tons of mercury-contaminated soil buried in landfills and elsewhere on the site. Orrington town officials, meanwhile, have said they want the soils removed so that the scenic riverfront site can be redeveloped.
Facing a price tag likely exceeding $100 million for the work, Mallinckrodt officials have argued in the past that it would be faster, easier and safer to encapsulate the contamination on site.
Mallinckrodt spokeswoman JoAnna Schooler said Monday that company officials had not yet seen the final cleanup order, and therefore, could not comment.
Littell said leaving the contaminated soils in the five landfills — which encompass more than 120,000 square feet — was not an option because of the contamination’s proximity to nearby residences and the river. The department also wanted to make sure local residents and the environment are protected well into the future, re-gardless of Mallinckrodt’s status as a company, he said.
The DEP order requires Mallinckrodt to remove the tainted soils to a licensed treatment or disposal facility.
“It’s really a stew of hazardous waste in these five landfills,” Littell said.
The DEP order, which Littell said likely will be appealed, would also require Mallinckrodt to remove an industrial sewer and the concrete slab of the former “cell building” as well as any contaminated soil under the slab.
Littell said he hopes the company will continue to work with the department on other agreed-upon cleanup projects at the site if the latest order is appealed to the Maine Board of Environmental Protection.
Soil contamination is not the only contentious issue left at the HoltraChem site.
A court-ordered study panel has been assessing the scope of mercury pollution in the Penobscot River downstream from the HoltraChem facility.
That scientific study panel, which Mallinckrodt is required to finance, is investigating whether it makes more sense to attempt to physically remove the mercury pollution from the muddy bottom or to allow the river to flush the toxins naturally.
Mercury is a bioaccumulative toxin, meaning concentrations of the toxin increase at each level of the food chain. Predators at the top of the food chain — such as humans and bald eagles — that eat fish contaminated with mercury are at higher risk from the neurotoxin.
Mercury is particularly dangerous to pregnant women and young children.
On 11/25/08 at 12:20 PM,
Mainelyme wrote:
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Wonderful.
Now how about the Gas Works on Main Street in Bangor?
That's been leaking into the Penobscot ever since Connie Conquest Russell got John Ballou to sell it to Bangor Community Developement sight unseen over 25 years ago.
Does the Judge matter in these decisions or just the towns where the illegal offenses occur?
On 11/25/08 at 12:21 PM,
Mainelyme wrote:
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Perley J. Thibodeau
Mainelyme
On 11/25/08 at 8:39 PM,
bicycle1 wrote:
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Hopefully companies that close down paper mills will be held responsible for mercury contaminated soils, and other contamanates that sit on the edge of the Penobscot water sheds.
On 11/25/08 at 8:54 PM,
BlueCollarBob wrote:
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Sure they'll be held responsible, right after their top executives award themselves huge bonuses and bankrupt the company. The taxpayers will be left to foot the bill. Uneducated, low-informed libertarians will defend the virtues of a free market that rewards corporate welfare queens and poisons our children. Huge drug and hospital conglomerates will profit from the disease and destruction, and nothing will change until the people who run these companies are prevented from hiding behind their corporate logos and held accountable in a court of law.
On 11/25/08 at 10:11 PM,
jlangley wrote:
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What I'm curious to know is where was the EPA and DEP when HoltraChem was generating tons and tons of hazardous waste from 1970 to 2000? At the very least the Maine DEP must have been aware of the problem in the early 90's, because industrial facilities were (and are) required to have permits for air emissions, stormwater discharges, storage of hazardous waste, etc. Such facilities would be subject to inspections by the DEP, and yet no alarm bells were sounded then? I guess in a State with limited resources, the priorities were not enforcement of environmental laws for even an albatross like HoltraChem. The only silver lining here is the site is currently owned by a viable business entity with apparently deep pockets (+35M so far), unlike most heavily contaminated (and abandoned) sites where the owner(s) have long since left town or gone out of business.
On 11/26/08 at 11:24 AM,
Mainelyme wrote:
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Communities have never cared what features of a company were destroying the area as long as they were keeping people working.
This is just another case of that way of thinking being true.
On 12/7/08 at 10:30 AM,
sjc355 wrote:
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Has there been any information about the drinking water/water table? Perhaps there is a public right to know document about that information. Contaminates don't just go in the Penobscot. Over all those years of neglect, they would get into the water table for those that have well water I would seek more information.
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