United States Environmental Protection Agency
Region I
POLLUTION REPORT

Subject: 

From approximately 1952 to 1977, the A.C. Lawrence Tannery (Tannery) facility, formerly located on the west bank of the Little Androscoggin River, used a metal trough to transport their waste to settling lagoons on the southeast bank of the Little Androscoggin River.

In the 1970’s, the South Paris Publicly Owned Treatment Works was constructed and began accepting waste from the Tannery.  In 1977, the lagoons ceased receiving wastes and a soil cap was placed over the sludge lagoons. The Tannery closed in 1985.

The land surrounding the Site is primarily wooded. A residential development is planned immediately south of the Site and currently the nearest residences are approximately 2000 feet northeast along Oxford Street. The land use on the west side of the river is industrial/commercial.  The Site is located over a mapped sand and gravel aquifer.

This inactive seven acre Site is referred to as lot 7 on the Town of Paris, Maine Property Map R2. The cause of the contamination is from a non-oil manufacturing source (Tannery).

It is bounded:

• to the north by Little Androscoggin River;
• to the south by a residential development;
• to the east by Oxford Street; and,
• to the west by a railroad right-of-way then the Little Androscoggin River.

Week of 25 September 2006

OSC McKeown, EPA Chemist Clifford, SL Lynch, RM Quinlan with three operators and two laborers were on site.  

Load out operations continued. Excavation of Lagoon 6 began and Lagoon 8 was completed. Lagoon 8 was backfilled was backfilled with a 6 inch layer of compost followed by clean fill.

On 28 September 2006, excavation of Lagoon 6 was completed. It was backfilled with a 6 inch layer of compost followed by clean fill.

SL Lynch mapped the lagoons using a Trimble GPS unit. The maximum depth of Lagoon 8 was 7 feet below ground surface and the maximum depth of Lagoon 6 was 5.5 feet below ground surface and the average depth was 4.5 feet below ground surface.

Number of Samples collected  66
Samples Analyzed on-site     66
Samples analyzed by NERL      7
Samples analyzed by Shaw Laboratory for disposal purposes                      3

1,509 tons of chromium-contaminated soil were sent to Juniper Ridge Landfill for disposal.

Week of 2 October 2006

On 2 October 2006, OSC McKeown, EPA Contractor Chemist Wafo, SL Lynch, RM Lustic with one operator and two laborers were on site.  Load out operations continued.   Excavation of Lagoon 07 began.  

On 3 October 2006, the Administrative Record was delivered to the South Paris Library.

On 4 October 2006, MEDEP representative Kathy Howatt arrived on site to observe site activities.  The excavation of Lagoon 7 was completed and it was backfilled with a 6 inch layer of compost followed by clean fill.

SL Lynch mapped Lagoon 7 using a Trimble GPS unit. The maximum depth of the excavation was 5 feet below ground surface and the average depth was 3.5 feet below ground surface.

On 5 October 2006, a representative from Paris Highway Department arrived on site to provide clean fill.  START member Lynch and OSC McKeown collected 20 samples six inches below ground surface along the riverbank adjacent to Lagoon 1 to determine the extent of contamination.  The samples were collected three feet from the edge of Lagoon 1.

1,830 tons of chromium-contaminated soil sent to Juniper Ridge Landfill for disposal.

Number of Samples collected 40
Samples Analyzed on-site 40
Samples analyzed by NERL 6
Samples analyzed by Shaw Laboratory for disposal purposes                         2

• Excavate and segregate the historical cap material from the underlying sludge;
• Excavate the sludge from the lagoons and the river bank (soil containing levels above 1000 ppm of chromium);
• Backfill excavated areas with 6" of compost and the original cap material;
• Possible excavation of contaminated sediment from the exposed river bed adjacent to the river bank;
• Stabilize the slope to minimize erosion and conduct ecological restoration;
• Dispose of the materials in accordance with the Off-Site Rule; and
• Coordinate with local community to evaluate preferred future land use in order to guide restoration activities to support beneficial site reuse.

*       Continue with the excavation of chromium-contaminated soil.
*       Continue shipping contaminated off-site for disposal.