The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said it plans to review cleanup work at two Maine Superfund sites this year, which are among eight New England sites on the agency’s national priorities list.
Each individual site will undergo a legally required five-year review to ensure that previous remediation efforts continue to protect public health and the environment. Regulators will release their findings online.
In Maine, regulators will review cleanup efforts at the former Callahan Mining Corp. site located near Harborside Village in the Hancock County town of Brooksville. The mine was in operation from the late 1800s until it closed in 1972, when Callahan sold the 120-acre property to individual landowners.
EPA. officials will also study cleanup progress at the Eastern Surplus Superfund Site in the Washington County town of Meddybemps, where the Eastern Surplus Co operated a retail business selling Army surplus and salvage items from 1946 until the early 1980s.
Protective measures
Five-year reviews generally are required when hazardous substances remain on site above levels that permit unlimited use and unrestricted exposure.
“As required by Superfund legislation, EPA is statutorily required to conduct comprehensive five-year reviews on Superfund Sites across the New England region,” said EPA New England Regional Administrator Mark Sanborn in a news release.
“Making sure the remedy is operating as intended is important to protecting stakeholders, communities and the surrounding environment,” he added.
The other New England sites scheduled for five-year reviews include three in New Hampshire, one in Connecticut and one in Vermont, as well as two federal facilities in Massachusetts.