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EPA and Maine DEP to Host Second Round of Office Hours on Holtrachem Site

Release Date: 07/05/2001
Contact Information: Angela Bonarrigo, EPA Community Involvement Coordinator, (617) 918-1034 Lucy Edmondson, EPA Regional Administrator's Office, (617) 918-1004 Deborah Garrett, Maine DEP Press Office, (207) 287-7830 Mark Merchant, EPA Press Office (617-918-1013)

BOSTON – A second round of office hours with representatives from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Maine Department of Environmental Protection will be held at Orrington Town Hall on Thursday, July 19 from 4 to 7 p.m.

The purpose of the office hours is for EPA and DEP representatives to informally discuss activities at the HoltraChem manufacturing plant and to answer questions regarding future cleanup plans for the facility.

Town residents and concerned citizens are welcome to stop by.

The HoltraChem manufacturing company opened in 1967 and manufactured chlorine, caustic soda, and chlorine bleach used by paper mills, as well as hydrochloric acid and the pesticide chloropicrin. The plant closed down in September 2000.

An investigation of the HoltraChem plant determined that mercury, chloropicrin, carbon tetrachloride, and chloroform were several of the contaminants onsite. In addition mercury-contaminated brine sludge was buried at the site in five hazardous waste landfills. The most frequently spilled chemical at the site was mercury containing brine, a hazardous waste when spilled. Contamination from the site has entered the Penobscot River and mercury contamination is in the sediment adjacent to and downstream from the site.

EPA and Maine DEP are developing cleanup goals for the HoltraChem plant and the river. The open house will give interested stakeholders a chance to ask EPA and DEP officials questions about the contamination and preliminary plans to clean it up.

For additional information, please contact: Lucy Edmondson or Angela Bonarrigo at 1-888-372-7341 (toll-free).