Bangor mulls plans to remove coal tar from river

BANGOR – The city held a public meeting Wednesday night to discuss coal tar contamination in an 11.4-acre portion of the Penobscot River known as Dunnett’s Cove – a problem that has been on Bangor’s radar for several years.

City Engineer Jim Ring and representatives from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection and three environmental consulting firms presented the public with an overview of the contamination, the results of a feasibility study and a potential remedy.

Previous studies concluded that the contamination was a result of waste product from Bangor Gas Works, which operated near the city’s landing site from 1881 to 1963. The city has split the contamination into two zones and will focus mitigation efforts on a 3.4-acre “active zone,” Gene McLinn of the environmental consulting firm RMT Inc. said.

The remedy, according to Ram Mohan of Blasland, Bouck & Lee, another consulting firm, will consist of isolating the contaminated area, filling in a portion of the river to prevent migration of contaminant and stabilizing the sediment permanently.

The cost of the project could run anywhere from $11.3 million to $19.7 million, Mohan said, and who will pay for the that remains to be seen. The issue is being argued in federal court after the city filed a lawsuit against Citizens Communication Co., the successor of a series of corporate entities that owned and operated Bangor Gas Works. Citizens responded to the lawsuit with several third-party suits alleging that the responsibility for contamination cleanup should be shared.

Ring said that Wednesday’s meeting was not the time to address the pending legal battle over who will pay for the cleanup. City Solicitor Norman Heitmann added that the city had been pushing for a feasibility study before the lawsuits were filed.

“Our goal has always been to get this issue resolved and to clean up the contamination,” Heitmann said.

The DEP must sign off on the proposed remedy and will do so after a public comment period. Few offered comments Wednesday night, but the public has until May 27 to contact the DEP.