The Hancock Ellsworth Tannery Site is former leather tanning facility that is currently inactive and abandoned since the late 1960s. The Town of Hancock (the town) acquired ownership through tax delinquency on November 29, 2015. The Site is located at 49 Tannery Road, northwest of the junction of Routes 1 and Route 182 in Hancock County, Hancock, Maine. The land use in the general vicinity includes a mixture of commercial and residential properties, as well as a former municipal landfill, quarry, and undeveloped land.
On May 9-10, 2018, EPA conducted a Preliminary Assessment and Site Investigation (PA/SI). The PA/SI included a reconnaissance of the Site conditions as well as collecting media samples to be analyzed for asbestos content, volatile and semivolatile organics (VOCs and SVOCs), metals, and PCBs. The PA/SI revealed that the primary hazardous substances at the Site include, but are not limited to, PCBs, lead, chromium, arsenic, mercury, and friable asbestos. These are “hazardous substances” as defined by Section 101(14) of CERCLA and 40 CFR § 302.4, and are a health threat to anyone walking on, traveling by or living near the Site. Because portions of the roof and most of the doors are missing, the threat of release to adjacent areas and other receptors exists, particularly during adverse weather conditions. In the event of a fire, the above mentioned hazardous substances will become airborne and migrate to the surrounding areas.
The EPA OSC determined that Site conditions present an imminent and substantial endangerment to human health and the environment and recommended a time-critical removal action to address the contaminants at the Site.
