EPA cleanup of PCBs begins at Perry junkyard

PERRY – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, working with the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, plans a cleanup of the Erb junkyard site on the Gleason Point Road where PCBs were found, officials said in a prepared release Thursday.

The two-acre site is a former junkyard and is contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls and lead. The cost of the cleanup is expected to be around $200,000.

The owner of the site, who was not identified by EPA officials, operated a junkyard on the property for nearly 20 years, until his death three years ago. EPA official David Doegan did not return a telephone call Thursday.

Following the owner’s death, the town removed debris from the site and in 2005 the DEP sampled the surface soil. Additional soil sampling by EPA in June 2006 confirmed the presence of PCBs and lead.

EPA and DEP staff started work this week. “DEP will have a mobile lab on site and will be analyzing additional soil samples and generate maps of the site to further delineate where the PCB and lead contamination is present,” the release said. “EPA contractors will excavate the contaminated soil and stockpile on-site in preparation for shipping it off site for disposal at a permitted facility.”

Additional soil samples will be taken to confirm that all of the contaminated soil is removed. During removal, the soil will be wetted down to minimize fugitive dust and EPA will monitor the air during the removal to protect area residents.

The EPA also will sample containers, tanks and cylinders on the site as well as a pit located there, which are filled with unidentified liquids.

After excavating the contaminated soils, EPA will backfill the open areas with clean fill and re-grade the area.

“Over the next several weeks, while the contaminated soil is excavated from the site, the public is reminded not to trespass on the site or enter either of the buildings … to avoid any exposure to contaminated soil or debris,” the EPA said.

This is not the first time EPA and DEP officials have had to clean up sites in Washington County.

Since the 1980s, a junkyard owned by Harry Smith and other family members has been operated on four parcels of land along Route 191 and Route 214 in Meddybemps. For years, Smith’s father stored some of the military supplies and equipment he purchased from the Department of Defense on the properties.

Eventually the land was placed on the federal Superfund list.

Between 2001 and 2003, the DEP spent millions to remove the most hazardous material from the site.

Smith, who was convicted of hazardous waste crimes and spent the better part of last year and this year in a Massachusetts jail awaiting extradition to Maine, faces two counts of failure to appear.

Those cases are expected to be heard next year in Superior Court in Machias. Meanwhile, Smith remains in the Washington County jail.

Smith was supposed to report to jail in 2003, but left town. He spent the next two years on the lam, finally being apprehended in November 2005 working at a salvage business near Everett, Mass.

That same year Smith, who was out on post-conviction bail when he left town, was added to Maine’s Most Wanted list. The junkyard dealer spent months fighting extradition. He eventually returned voluntarily to the state.