EPA takes on phase 2 of woolen mill cleanup

CORINNA – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency proposed a second cleanup action Thursday for the Eastland Woolen Mill Superfund site.

Ed Hathaway, project manager for the EPA, said various alternatives were carefully evaluated; the proposal is to extract contaminated groundwater and then treat it before discharging it back into the ground or Sebasticook River. Combining this treatment with a series of pumping wells should keep the contamination from spreading.

The first cleanup in Corinna was the removal of the mill, hundreds of tons of contaminated soil and the downtown buildings built on a 21-acre area.

The proposal for the second cleanup phase is nearly identical to a plan suggested this week for a Superfund site in nearby Plymouth, also involving contaminated groundwater. Plymouth’s water was poisoned by waste oil dumped on the ground over two decades, while the Corinna contamination was fed by chemicals used for a century in the dyeing process at the woolen mill.

The EPA proposal for Corinna includes pumping and treating groundwater removed from the contaminated aquifer and then discharging the water into the ground or into the East Branch of the Sebasticook River. The plan also includes negotiating restricted covenants on the affected properties so no new wells will be drilled or used, and likely the instituting of zoning ordinances to prevent new wells.

Long-term monitoring of the site is also included in the plan.

Eventually, said Hathaway, a third cleanup phase will address sediment and floodplain contamination with the East Branch of the Sebasticook River.

An informational meeting has been set for 7 p.m. Wednesday, July 17, at the Corinna school cafeteria. EPA and DEP officials will attend.

Following that meeting, a 30-day comment period will be held to allow residents to offer opinions on the proposal. A public hearing has been scheduled for 7 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 7.

Maine Department of Environmental Protection is enthusiastic about the next step in the cleanup of Corinna’s center, said Martha Kirkpatrick, DEP commissioner in a prepared statement. “The completion of the early cleanup by EPA, including mill demolition, contaminated soil removal, changes to Route 7 and the Sebasticook River will promote the town’s future redevelopment.”

EPA officials were in nearby Plymouth Wednesday night, offering an $8.1 million proposal for the second phase of the cleanup of the Hows Corner Superfund site. Groundwater contamination in Plymouth has forced soil removal and the creation of a local water district.

The EPA suggested that a series of pumping wells be installed at the contaminated site, to be used to keep pollution from spreading out of the central area, similar to the plan being proposed in Corinna.

It is unclear how the Bush administration’s proposed reduction of the Superfund cleanup program might affect the projects.