Decision on river explained at hearing

CORINNA – About two dozen residents and local officials attended a public hearing Tuesday night in Corinna, called to explain why the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is not planning any further cleanup of the East Branch of the Sebasticook River as it leaves Corinna and flows into the Sebasticook Lake in Newport.

Attendees asked only two questions, however, and listened quietly to the half-hour presentation. No officials from Newport attended.

The site discussed extends south from the SuperFund site in Corinna, which has taken 20 years to identify and clean up at a cost of $46 million so far. From 1909 to 1996, Eastland Woolen Mill contaminated downtown Corinna, the Sebasticook River and a mile-long area downstream with cancer-causing chemicals once used to dye wool.

But because of what he called “acceptable risks,” EPA project manager Edward Hathaway told those at the hearing that no further action is planned. When asked if continued monitoring of the river was planned in the future, Hathaway said, “There is no money.”

During the assessment of the river, the short-tailed shrew nearly triggered a multimillion-dollar ecological cleanup when it showed possible levels of contamination that would jeopardize its survival.

But after further investigation by the EPA this winter, it was determined that the level of risk to the shrew population’s survival was acceptable.

EPA ecologists have concluded that none of the contamination levels in the river would necessitate a cleanup. Instead, the study determined that the annual drawdown of Sebasticook Lake, which turns the wide river into a tiny stream each fall, does far more ecological damage than the small pockets of contamination left.

The shrew was just one of hundreds of animals, insects and fish that were assessed as part of the study. Hathaway stressed that nothing found in that area is of concern to humans but that it was important to investigate the effect of contaminants on the natural food chain. “We had expected to find widespread areas devoid of life,” he said. “That hypothesis was wrong.”

Crayfish, shrews and other animals, including bugs and worms, that larger animals such as mink, raccoon and herons feed on were found uncontaminated. “We are not seeing the ecosystem affected,” he said.

Hathaway explained that the public can comment on the decision from July 13 to Aug. 13 and another public hearing will be held on Aug. 10. He said that all information on the project would be available at the town office by July 12.