Army rethinks Machiasport aquifer cleanup effort

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MACHIASPORT – Responding to concerns expressed by the state Department of Environmental Protection, the Army Corps of Engineers is taking a new approach in its six-year effort to clean up the Machiasport water that was contaminated by a former military installation.

At issue is trichloroethylene, or TCE, a carcinogen that was detected in 15 residential wells in Machiasport in 1995.

The source of the solvent is an Air Force radar tracking system on Miller and Howard mountains that closed in 1984.

On Monday, corps project manager Jayson Ilic told a group of 35 Machiasport residents that his agency is rewriting its contract with the engineering consultants for the project. It will include additional testing in hopes of pinpointing the source of the TCE and the route the plume is taking through the fractured bedrock under Miller and Howard mountains.

If the plume can be located, the corps will try new technologies, including steam injection, chemical oxidation or even the introduction of molasses to clean the TCE from the aquifer, Ilic said. “TCE wants to be in the air, and steam injection can make it come out of the water,” Ilic said. “Molasses creates an environment that is more favorable for natural breakdown.”

The corps’ decision to pursue cleaning the aquifer rather than confining its efforts to providing an alternative water supply to homeowners whose well water continues to test positive for TCE comes at the bidding of the Maine Department of Environmental Protection.

The DEP told the corps that anything short of cleaning up the aquifer is a response, not remediation, Ilic said.

Ilic’s update on the project is his first to Machiasport residents since he became the corps’ manager for the project late last summer. At that time, the corps had released a draft feasibility study identifying five alternatives for addressing the Machiasport TCE contamination:

. Continuing to supply filters to affected homeowners.

. Drilling new wells for those who are affected.

. Hooking up affected homeowners to the water supply of the Down East Correctional Facility on Miller Mountain.

. Developing a new public water supply for affected residents.

. Connecting the homeowners to the Machias Water Co. some 10 miles away.

The DEP commented on that study, saying that only a new water supply or connection to Machias would be acceptable and only with additional provisions, including a buffer zone around the affected area.

The department said the buffer would have to be large enough to contain any TCE that travels from the existing site and would have to be monitored with a contingency plan in case the contamination moves.

In addition, there would have to be a way – either through deed restriction or town ordinance – to ensure that current and future landowners didn’t drill wells within the zone because that could result in movement of the contamination, according to DEP.

Getting the compound out of the aquifer altogether would do away with the question of how large that buffer zone should be. But the apparent change to remediation after years of concentrating on an alternative water supply was a source of frustration to many of those who spoke during Monday’s meeting.

“We are no further along than we were six years ago,” said Jean-Pierre Ragot. “No more slides, no more paper. Just make up your mind and go for it.”

Ragot said Machiasport has miles of undeveloped coastline, but that no one wants to build there and people can’t sell their property because they don’t know where the plume will travel. Machiasport has a limited water supply and that is already strained. The town’s one fish plant uses a lot of water and is experiencing problems with saltwater intrusion, he said.

Some of those who spoke asked why remediation hadn’t been part of the discussion over the past six years.

William Holtham, program manager for the corps’ New England District, said his agency has always known it would have to address remediation, but had thought that step would take place “down the road.”

“We knew we had to do it, but all anyone ever talked about was a water supply,” Holtham said. “The state has told us that you can’t just look at water supplies, but you have to look at the entire site.”

The Army Corps of Engineers is responsible for the cleanup of former military sites, and Holtham said there is only one site that is ranked higher than Machiasport in the corps’ ranking of New England projects.

The top site is in Massachusetts and that is because of an order from the federal Environmental Protection Agency, he said.

“This is the second most important project in New England,” Holtham said. “I know it doesn’t look like it because we’ve been here a long time.”

Mark Hyland, director of DEP’s Division of Remediation, said a new water supply and trying to define the location and movement of the TCE plume are not separate actions. They are linked because information about the plume will determine the size of the buffer zone, he said.

“There’s a lot of area where people would not be able to draw water,” Hyland said. “I think the corps wants to see that [area] smaller.”

In response to questions, Holtham said the corps had spent approximately $3.3 million to date on remedial investigation and soil sampling.

Judy Cuddy, representative for U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, said Maine’s congressional delegation is “ready, willing and able” to help find the money when a final solution to the problem is identified.

“But, from what I understand from my last meeting is, we’re not at that point yet,” Cuddy said.