’05 data key to progress in mine cleanup studies Callahan site in Brooksville on Superfund list

BROOKSVILLE – Information gathered during 2005 could drive at least part of the next round of Superfund studies at the former Callahan mine site at Goose Cove.

The Maine Department of Transportation, working with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and other state agencies, completed its first season of data collection last fall as part of the remedial investigation at the mine site.

Although the DOT has developed a work plan for the two-year study, the department’s project manager, Dwight Doughty, said recently that findings from the first season of data gathering on and around the site would likely raise some new questions for investigators.

“During 2006, we’re going to fill in data gaps,” Doughty said. “The data we’ve gathered so far is going to provide a lot of answers, but it’s also going to generate a lot of questions. We plan to address those questions in the 2006 season.”

The Callahan Mine Corp. operated the open pit mine between 1968 and 1972. The mine was about 1,000 feet in diameter and 320 feet deep and covered about 150 acres just east of the village of Harborside adjacent to and beneath Goose Pond.

The EPA placed the site on the Superfund list in September 2002 after evaluating previous studies which indicated there were elevated levels of cadmium, copper, lead and zinc in Goose Cove sediments, on-site oils and in some shellfish.

Early evaluations identified similar contamination, but Doughty was reluctant to discuss specific findings from the 2005 season at this time.

Some samples taken last year are still being analyzed, he said, while some findings are being independently validated as required under Superfund regulations to ensure the information is reliable.

According to Doughty, the investigation targets three different environmental aspects of the site: surface soils and water; ecological, which includes flora and fauna as well as humans; and subsurface soils and water.

“We’ve got a dedicated group of professionals who have been able to gather a large amount of data in a short period of time,” Doughty said. “We understand that there’s a lot of interest in this project, and we want to address any concerns.”

Last year, Doughty said, crews concentrated on surface soils and waters at the mine property off the site and also took samples of the wildlife in the area, focusing on tissue samples from a wide variety of animals including bugs and worms as well as shellfish and some waterfowl.

Investigators responded to local concerns and tested water samples from residential wells. In addition, some local residents expressed concern that materials leaching from the site might have affected local lobster populations.

“We worked with DMR, and we had divers go down and look for lobsters in the cove,” Doughty said. “We had some local fishermen tell us we wouldn’t find any lobsters in the cove, and they were right.”

Divers did find different varieties of crabs, and samples have been sent to EPA labs for analysis, he said.

They plan to go back again in the spring to continue the search.

Efforts this year will focus on subsurface soils and water, and part of the work plan will include drilling monitoring wells on the site, Doughty said.

Plans call for the DOT to develop a report outlining the findings from the 2005 work season which will be delivered to EPA officials by the end of April, Doughty said.

The information in that Phase 1A report will be presented to the public at a local meeting later in the summer. Doughty noted that many of the property owners in the area are summer residents and would not be in the area until the end of May or June. The meeting likely will be scheduled so as many area residents as possible can attend.

The department, working with EPA, will develop a final report and feasibility study which will outline potential options for a site cleanup. That report should be ready early in 2007, he said.