7 months ago
ORRINGTON, Maine (NEWS CENTER)--- People who live along the Penobscot River are upset with town leaders for unanimously backing a company's proposal on how to deal with hazardous materials at one of its former plants.
The Holtrachem plant, which is managed by the company Mallinckrodt LLC, closed in 2000 but since then five mercury contaminated landfills at the site have been at the center of controversy.
Recently the town's board of selectmen announced their support for Mallinckrodt's proposal to move one landfill that is the source of the mercury contamination and cap a second landfill. The company would also monitor the others.
"First of all it protects the people," said board chair Howard Grover, "It protects the environment and you're not releasing airborne mercury particles, which if you start digging into that, you're going to have airborne mercury."
Yet a few people who live along Ferry Road downstream from the site are not happy. They claim that the erosion of their river banks is proof enough of the land's instability and is directly why they want to see Mallinckrodt comply with an order from the Department of Environmental Protection to dig up all of the materials and transport them to Canada.
"Having chosen unanimously to go with the Mallinckrodt clean-up proposal, they are not representing all of the town," said Pat Judd, who has lived on Ferry Road for almost 25 years, "and we're the ones most in danger and our voice was not heard by them."
NEWS CENTER
