BREWER – While rusted drums of unknown chemicals remain half-buried at the defunct Eastern Fine Paper Co. mill site, environmental officials have been surprised at the lack of contaminants on so large a site.

The state’s Department of Environmental Protection has spent the week testing to find out what the drums contain.

“They literally found a couple of barrels rusted, fractured and oozing [materials] into the [Sedgeunkedunk] stream,” Brewer Economic Development Director Drew Sachs said Thursday, standing next to the barrels at the site. “The soils have been tested and show a high level of chromium.”

The stream, one of the property lines, runs from the mill to Brewer Lake. Officials think the drums contain chromium-based paper dyes that were buried 50 or 60 years ago, Sachs said.

City and state officials don’t think the drums will affect the development of the site.

“This is not a new thing,” he said. “It’s not an issue where you will walk by and get sick. It’s not an issue where people will turn on their taps and get sick from it. We just need to figure out what the cleanup solution to this is.”

Long-term exposure to chromium can cause skin, lung, liver and kidney problems.

DEP tests conducted this week will determine exactly what is in the barrels, which are located behind the former mill’s water filtration plant.

Test results and the site’s possible future uses will determine the clean-up effort.

“It’s probably going to be an issue of containing it and not an issue of removal,” Sachs said. “We just don’t want it going into the stream.”

Results should be back in two to three weeks, Jean Firth, DEP oil and hazardous materials specialist, said Thursday while conducting tests at the mill.

“That’s probably the worst area on the site,” she said.

The good news is that even with the unknowns, the 41-acre South Main Street location is fairly unpolluted, especially considering it was a paper mill for nearly a century, Firth said. Areas that have been identified as contaminated are minor and isolated, she said.

“We’re pleasantly surprised with the amount of contaminants, or lack of contaminants,” she said. “The issues are relatively small compared to the size of the property. It’s something we can work with.”

Eastern Fine closed its doors in January, laying off all 240 employees. The city took over ownership of the former mill in May as part of the sale agreement of Eastern Fine’s parent company and formed South Brewer Redevelopment LLC to assume the responsibility of owning and redeveloping the site.

A date for completing the cleanup depends on how the site will be developed, officials said.

So far, early estimates show the DEP and Environmental Protection Agency have spent between $1.5 million and $2 million on the cleanup and to heat the mill during this past spring’s colder months, which cost in excess of $30,000 a week.

The city invested $6,000 for the initial environmental assessment and has applied for several Brownfields grants to help pay for the cleanup.

Offered through the EPA, Brownfields are abandoned, idled or under-used industrial or commercial facilities where expansion or redevelopment is complicated by environmental contamination.

This week’s tests focus on trouble spots identified in the initial environmental assessment. Various areas on the Eastern Fine site – including a former sludge lagoon believed to have low-level hazardous material – were identified in the June report and required additional testing.

“We pretty much know what’s here, but they’re verifying the extent of it,” Sachs said. “[The testing] will determine what cleanup, if any, will be needed” for each identified area.

In addition to testing the drums, crews from DEP and Campbell Environmental Group, based out of Falmouth, analyzed several other areas, including the site of the former chemical manufacturing building along the Penobscot River. The building has been gone for decades, but the structure’s rubble remains. DEP inspectors want to make sure nothing is leaking into the river.

“We’re taking tests at low tide, and this afternoon we’ll do testing at high tide,” DEP Project Geologist Hank Andolsek said while taking water samples Thursday morning.

The goal of the DEP and EPA is to make sure chemicals and other hazards are cleaned up so the facility does not pose a threat to the environment or nearby residences.

For months, the EPA has been collecting loose and bulk chemicals used to produce paper from all over the plant and consolidating them in one warehouse. Two weeks ago, the last of the chemicals left the site, EPA on-scene coordinator Gary Lipson said Wednesday.

“As far as any chemicals – they’re all gone,” he said. “We’re done with our removal action. Nothing really jumped out at us. The materials we found were pretty much expected.”

Tons of unused chemicals were shipped out for disposal. Some were sold and creditors removed others.

“[The EPA and DEP have] actually done a good chunk of the work already,” Sachs said, “The biggest problem at the site was the bulk chemicals.”

Most of the contaminated areas are on the property’s perimeter and are “outside the developable area,” which means much of the clean-up effort will not affect redevelopment plans.

“The city and South Brewer Redevelopment have been extremely pleased with what the DEP and EPA have done with this site,” Sachs said. “We’re a good year to year and a half ahead of where we expected to be. That has been a very important piece to make the site developable and to bring life back to the site.

“We’re feeling pretty good about it,” he said.

Federal officials agree that there are no reasons redevelopment plans should not go forward.

“Certain parts can probably be reused right away and other parts will require remediation,” DEP Deputy Commissioner Dave Littell said. “The city has been encouraging us to move along, and we’re very pleased with the progress. It’s moving along quite expeditiously for a Phase II.”

Once this week’s round of tests are complete, the results will be used to complete the Phase II assessment, which will include cleanup recommendations, Littell said.

“It’s an involved endeavor,” he said. “It’s very much a process. My bet is we’ll be looking at a report in the January or February time frame.”