Argyle spill site prompts concern Neighbors fear tainted wells

ARGYLE – Neighbors of a defunct pump station that once moved jet fuel from Searsport to Limestone’s Loring Air Force Base remain leery of plans to clean up the contaminated site and concerned with the effects the petroleum could have on their health.

On Saturday, a group of local people held an impromptu gathering just across Route 116 on the neatly trimmed lawn of Arthur and Nancy Burns to talk about their options as they await the $2 million cleanup to begin in August.

“Isn’t that lovely?” asked an unimpressed Arthur Burns as he looked across the road at the twisted and toppled metal fence surrounding the abandoned 11/2-acre lot, scattered with full plastic garbage cans and remnants of the station’s concrete foundations.

But it’s not what’s aboveground that has raised the most serious concerns among Burns, 72, and several of his neighbors along a mile-long stretch of pipeline connected to the pumping station.

The fuel that has leaked or been spilled from the station since its startup in the early 1950s has caused some to wonder if their nearby wells could be contaminated.

Saturday’s gathering came on the heels of a Thursday night meeting at Alton Town Hall, where Air Force and state environmental officials outlined the planned cleanup of the pump station on the long-abandoned fuel pipeline.

At its height of operation, the 6-inch fuel line carried jet and home heating fuel at rates of 420 gallons per minute to Loring. The 175-mile section from Bangor to Loring was drained and filled with nitrogen gas when the base closed in 1994.

The section from Searsport to Bangor was used after that to supply fuel to the Maine Air National Guard and Bangor International Airport.

While only two major fuel spills have been documented – one in the 1950s at the Mattawamkeag pumping station and one in 1987 in Fort Fairfield – Air Force officials acknowledged Saturday that a recent environmental study suggested that a significant amount of fuel was spilled or leaked at the Argyle site.

“It’s contaminated enough that we want to clean it up,” said David Strainge, an environmental coordinator with the Air Force Base Conversion Agency.

Cleanup crews will install a system of underground pipes attached to a blower that, much like a vacuum cleaner, will suck the pollutants out of the soil, according to Strainge. The system, set to be operational by September, would run for three to five years, he said.

Unlike the common process of digging up and treating contaminated soil, the vapor extraction system is designed to minimize the amount of petroleum released into the air during removal, Strainge said. After being sucked out of the ground the pollutants are burned, he said.

As to concerns about the site’s past effect on the neighborhood, Strainge assured residents that the area’s geology made any health problems unlikely.

“It’s a very well-contained site. Nature has been kind to us in that sense,” said Strainge, noting that any pollutants were likely to follow the groundwater away from homes and toward the nearby Penobscot River. “We’re real confident that this site has not had an adverse effect on the neighbors.”

Surrounding wells have been tested and found to be free of contaminants, said Strainge, adding that soil samples along the pipeline also have come up clean.

Despite the assurances, many – including 41-year-old David Murray – are skeptical.

Murray’s 6-year-old daughter, Erin, died in April after her major organs failed, he said Saturday.

He lives three houses away from the station. His well was replaced in 1987 after a flood left unsafe levels of petroleum in it, he said.

The dirt floor of his basement still smells of fuel, he said, and although there is no documented evidence linking the pollution to Erin’s death, he wonders if the nearby pipeline could be to blame.

“If that thing is the cause of my daughter’s death, I’m not interested in money,” said Murray, who is set to have his well tested next week. “I want somebody’s head on a platter.”

The pipeline from Bangor to Limestone runs along a 50-foot-wide federal easement. Although some landowners have called upon federal officials to return the strip of land, ownership will be transferred to the Loring Development Authority of Maine, whose mission is to facilitate business expansions at the former base.

The steel pipe is thought to have several potential uses including carrying fiber-optic or electrical distribution lines to Limestone.

The Argyle cleanup is part of the remediation plan for the three pumping stations from Bangor to Limestone. Work has been completed at the Littleton station, and is nearly finished in Mattawamkeag, Strainge said.