The Maine Department of Environmental Protection on Thursday issued a notice of violation to the owner of the Orrington property that was responsible for polluting the Penobscot River with mercury.
Mallinckrodt US LLC/Medtronic has shown a “lack of meaningful progress remediating the former chloralkali manufacturing facility,” the DEP said in a statement.
The pollution originated with the HoltraChem Manufacturing Company, which operated at the site from 1967 to 1982 and produced 23,000 pounds of toxic mercury waste each year while manufacturing chemicals, including caustic soda, chlorine bleach, hydrochloric acid and the pesticide chloropicrin, for papermaking and other industries.
At the time the DEP got involved, Mallinckrodt was the last remaining owner of HoltraChem still in existence.
According to a spokesperson for Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals, since 2013 the site and Mallinckrodt US LLC were owned by Covidien and subsequently acquired by Medtronic.
“Given that, Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals is not responsible for this site or the Notice of Violation recently issued by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection,” the spokesperson said.
The town acquired the land through tax delinquency, but the owner was deemed responsible for cleanup of the contaminated portion of the property.
The DEP said it has pursued the site’s cleanup since 2008, and as early as 2009 accused Mallinckrodt of delaying its cleanup efforts at the 235-acre riverfront site.
On Thursday, the department said “progress has been achieved remediating the area,” but Mallinckrodt US LLC/Medtronic “has ceased to make meaningful progress towards remediating the remaining soil for over two years,” leaving large areas of mercury-contaminated soil remain on the site unremediated.
The notice of violation demands that the owner within 30 days submit a detailed work plan to remove the contaminated soil from all unremediated areas on the property, then start implementing the plan within 15 days of the DEP approving it.
This story has been updated to clarify the current ownership of the site.