PLYMOUTH – There were representatives from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, the Plymouth Board of Selectmen, and attorneys from the parties responsible for the cleanup at the Hows Corner waste oil site.

But there were fewer than 10 Plymouth residents.

The handful who did turn out Wednesday night to discuss the Superfund cleanup options learned of a new $8.1 million option proposed by the EPA and likely to be funded by those parties that have been determined to have sent oil to the site – the “potentially responsible parties,” known as PRPs.

The option is intended to clean up contaminated groundwater in the area surrounding the 2-acre Hows Corner site, sometime within the next 1,434 years.

William Lovely, EPA project engineer, explained that the proposal involves installing a series of wells that will continuously pump, cleanse and recharge the area directly under the Hows Corner site, where the greatest contamination exists.

By placing a restriction on the drilling or use of any other wells in an area surrounding the waste oil site, Lovely explained, the contamination outside the Hows site will eventually clear up and the worst of the contamination can be contained.

The Hows Corner contamination was first discovered in October 1987 during routine well testing. George West had operated a waste oil storage and transfer facility on the location, off Route 7 in southeastern Plymouth, from 1965 to 1980. After the DEP tested the water in area wells, organic carcinogenic chemicals were found.

An alternative water source eventually was located and the Plymouth Water District was formed in 1993, funded by the EPA. By 1995, the site was placed on the federal Superfund list.

During subsequent investigations, Lovely said, the contamination was determined to have spread out from the Hows site through fractures in bedrock. Twenty-four bedrock monitoring wells provide constant updates regarding the contamination, which Lovely said has not spread to Plymouth Pond.

The contamination has spread to Martins Stream, and if it eventually reaches the pond, Lovely said, the levels will not be dangerous and will have no impact.

The priority, however, is to contain the contamination to a location below the Hows Corner site. Containing it will require control of the plume, which can be done by not drilling new wells or increasing well usage in the area, said Lovely.

He said that public comment on the proposal would be heard from July 12 to Aug. 12 either by mail or e-mail. A formal comment session will be held at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 6, at the Plymouth Grange Hall. Details of the proposal are available at the Plymouth Town Hall.

Should the proposal be accepted, it likely would be those found responsible for providing oil to the site who would foot the bill.

Originally the PRPs included school districts, towns, car dealers, garages and others, adding up to a total of 317 entities. Of that number, 103 remain and the EPA has determined that 19 of that group are unable to pay.

David Littell of Pierce Atwood of Portland represents those PRPs, a group formally titled The West Site/Hows Corner Remedial Investigation Feasibility Study Potentially Responsible Parties Group.

Littell said at the meeting that he has been authorized by the PRPs to offer landowners in the affected area free hookup to the water district in exchange for covenants that no well will ever be used on the property. He said the district’s water main will need to be extended and that the process is expensive. Hooking one landowner up to town water cost the PRPs more than $30,000.

Meanwhile, town selectmen will work with the EPA, the DEP and the PRPs to structure institutional controls, which could involve building moratoriums, zoning ordinances prohibiting new wells and restricted covenants.