DEP continues Bangor Road clean-up

By Joseph Cyr
Staff Writer
    HOULTON — Thanks to a $75,000 federal stimulus grant, the Department of Environmental Protection has made a section of the Bangor Road a little bit cleaner.
    Underground fuel contamination has been prevalent along the Bangor Road and the DEP has spent several years digging up, removing and replacing contaminated soil with clean soil. The latest project involved a section of road adjacent to Daigle Oil Company.
    “We first became aware of potential problems in this area in early 2004, when we were doing some work with the Houlton Band of Maliseets,” said Chris Swain, an environmental specialist with the DEP. “That work showed Pearce Brook was being impacted significantly. At the same time, we were getting complaints from the utility company about vapor issues in basements.”
    The DEP began investigating the area more closely and discovered there were nearly 60 underground gas tanks in a quarter-mile stretch and several of those tanks had leaked petroleum into the ground.
    “It’s something we have seen in town after town,” Swain said. “We call it the ‘gasoline alley’ effect.”
    The DEP started its clean-up projects in 2005 at the site of the former Irving Oil Company. About 5,000 yards of contaminated soil was removed, but additional contamination has popped up at various other spots around Bangor Road.
    Some of the businesses in the area reported the smell of gas vapors in the basements.
    The most recent clean-up project involved a 150-foot by 35-foot stretch of road that went down 12-14 feet to the bedrock.
    “We knew we had contamination down in the utility trenches, which could lead to potential vapor problems,” Swain said. “Part of this [clean-up] is environmental protection, while some of it is for stimulating the economy. Every penny of this money was spent here in town. The tough part was the contamination was tied up around the utility lines. We had to be very careful not to destroy the water or sewer lines. It was time consuming and slow work, but it needed to be done.”
    The $75,000 spent in Houlton was more than the entire amount spent on projects in York, Cumberland, Androscoggin, and Kennebec counties combined. About $750,000 has been spent on clean-up efforts in Houlton over the past decade.
    Steelstone Industries did the groundwork and also treated and disposed of the soil.
    Both Pearce Brook and the Meduxnekeag River have been impacted by petroleum spills over the years. DEP has worked closely with the Houlton Band of Maliseets to correct the problems.
    “The Meduxnekeag River and Pearce Brook are tribal waters and have a huge cultural significance for them,” Swain said. “They have worked with us on sampling protocol and provided access to properties.”
    To date, DEP has removed contaminated soil from five separate properties and two roads.
    “We know of one more property we want to investigate,” Swain said. “We basically started at the top of the hill and are working our way down toward the river. We’re almost there.”