United States Environmental Protection Agency
Region I
POLLUTION REPORT

Subject: 

The American Tissue Mills of Maine (ATM) Site is the former location of a tissue paper mill, which, prior to 2001 was operated by American Tissue Mills of Maine. In 2001, the company declared chapter 11 bankruptcy, and ceased operation of the mill.  The mill was acquired by Augusta Tissue LLC in March 2003.  Augusta Tissue LLC has not resumed operation of the mill.  The facility has been unsecured and unheated since operations ceased in 2001.   Most of the facility has been without electrical power since that time.  Two former employees of American Tissue have been retained in a part-time capacity by Augusta Tissue.  One of the responsibilities of these employees was to maintain a series of propane fueled heaters to keep the chemicals in the drums, totes, tanks and piping from freezing during winter.  At one point during the winter of 2005/2006, the propane supply at the site ran out.  ATM did not provide their employees with any funds to procure additional fuel, and the facility has been unheated since that time.  Reportedly, the employees have not been paid for their services for several months.   Electrical service was maintained in the office portion of the complex, until a fire destroyed the office on May 15, 2006.

On 23 October, 2006, EPA mobilized to the site with its contractors and from that date through November 17, 2006 performed the following site activities:  

•    Compiled an inventory of drums, totes and other small containers found throughout the site.  All of these containers were moved to a temporary staging area on the ground floor of one of the mill buildings.  Information was collected to assist in assigning each container to an appropriate waste stream for transportation and disposal.  Efforts were made to isolate the staging area from the remainder of the mill, and portable heaters were used to keep the chemicals from freezing, pending transportation and disposal.

•    Removed and secured two thickness gauges from the paper manufacturing machines.  These gauges each contained a Krypton 85 radiation source   The gauges were packed in a 55-gallon drum and secured on site, pending transportation and disposal/recycling.

•    Inventoried the bulk storage tanks.  Each tank was gauged to obtain an estimated volume.  Preparations have been made to arrange for the transportation and treatment/disposal of the contents of the tanks.

•     Inventoried the transformers and capacitors located throughout the site.  Twenty-eight large transformers containing PCB contaminated oil were identified.  Small electrical devices (transformers, capacitors, etc.) were collected and stored in the temporary staging area pending transportation and disposal.

During the week of January 22, 2007, EPA and its contractors initiated transportation and disposal operations at the site.  The small containers in the staging area were consolidated into total of 33 lab packs, which were transported off site for disposal.  In addition, eighty-four 55-gallon drums and thirty-two 230-gallon totes were shipped off site for disposal.

During the week of February 5, 2007, EPA and its contractors drained PCB contaminated oil from 27 transformers at the site.  A total of 2,250 gallons of PCB contaminated oil was shipped of site to be used as fuel.  Due to its physical location, one transformer could not be accessed, and will be addressed at at later date.  The thickness gauges containing radioactive sources were also shipped off site to be recycled.

During the week of June 4, 2007, EPA remobilized to the site to make preparations for transportation and disposal of the bulk liquids, electrical devices and PCB oil from the remaining transformer.

EPA plans to resume transportation and disposal of bulk liquids and electrical devices the week of June 11, 2007.

Maine DEP has contributed to the clean up at the site by removing approximately fifty 55-gallon drums of non-hazardous oil.  DEP also disposed of approximately 3,000 gallons of non-PCB oil from transformers, and approximately 3,000 gallons of solmet oil from a tank found at the site.

START costs were inadvertently overestimated in POLREP #1