Pike blasting raises pollution fears
A group says the explosions could disturb contamination on nearby property, forcing it into nearby waterways.
By Beth Quimby bquimby@mainetoday.com
Staff Writer
A group of Westbrook residents says that blasting by Pike Industries at its quarry off Spring Street could cause chemical contamination on nearby property to spread to the Stroudwater River and into Casco Bay.
The property at 2 Eisenhower Drive was contaminated by trichloroethylene, a carcinogen, in the 1990s when it was owned by the Unitrode Corp., later purchased by Texas Instruments. Unitrode made electronic components on the site, which was also home to Westbrook's dump.
"It's one of the best-kept secrets," said Mercer Bonney, who lives about 300 feet from the site. Although the area is served by the public water system, Bonney said her basement is wet and she worries about contaminated water entering her home.
The residents' concerns are the latest development in a multiyear dispute between Pike Industries and its opponents over Pike's plan to operate the quarry on Spring Street.
Since 2006, the city has approved several permits for Pike to blast at the quarry. But the Zoning Board of Appeals ruled in July that Pike does not have the right to operate the quarry because its predecessor on the site, Blue Rock Industries, never met conditions the board set for the site in 1968.
Pike has appealed the shutdown order to Cumberland County Superior Court.
The company says it needs to excavate the Spring Street property, part of the Five Star Industrial Park, because it has effectively depleted its quarry on Main Street, west of the Maine Turnpike.
But Pike's plan has come under fire from some residents and businesses, including tenants of the industrial park, who are concerned about blasting and the impact of the quarry operations. A rezoning proposal that would prohibit quarry operations in the park has been tabled to give Pike, its critics and the city time to try to negotiate a resolution.
The former Unitrode property has been monitored by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection for more than a decade, said Harold Nilson, site manager for the DEP. He said contamination from the property migrated into an aquifer.
Texas Instruments, which is responsible for the cleanup, has been working to prevent the contamination from spreading, he said. The company installed a pump-and-treat system, but Nilson said no one knows the extent of the contamination.
The DEP issued an order in 2003 that prohibits any excavation, including digging, grading, drilling or other disturbance of the ground on or beneath the property without the agency's permission.
Residents said they believe that any blasting at the adjacent quarry would cause the contamination to spread. They want the DEP order extended to Pike's property.
"Once you start fracturing that bedrock, the groundwater will flow through the fissures," said Warren Knight, owner of Smiling Hill Farms, who has long opposed blasting at the quarry. He said the contamination could move to Clark Brook, which connects to the Stroudwater River.
At a news conference Wednesday, residents said they will ask Gov. John Baldacci to get involved to stop the blasting.
"DEP has done exactly what it should, and the neighborhood needs to remain undisturbed," said Taryn Hallweaver, a community organizer with the Toxics Action Center, an environmental group that has been working with residents.
Jonathan Olson, regional manager for Pike Industries, said it was the first he had heard of any concerns about contamination at 2 Eisenhower Drive.
"Obviously, when we purchased that site there was already an active quarry," he said.
Mayor Colleen Hilton, who set up the committee that is seeking a compromise to allow Pike Industries to stay in Westbrook, said she was disappointed that residents did not raise their concerns at two earlier meetings.
Knight said he didn't learn about the contamination and the DEP's order until the past week.
Staff Writer Beth Quimby can be contacted at 791-6363 or at:
bquimby@pressherald.com
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19 COMMENTS
MainenCrisis said...
This is not Pikes issue its the property owners issue and if the local residents complaining about pike want to pass the straight face test they need to petition the town for that brown site clean up and let a money producing job having tax paying pike alone!!!!!
March 18, 2010 at 6:54 AM Report abuse
Mainer123 said...
Jonathan Olson claims the quarry was active when Pike bought the land. Pike has purchased too many businesses in Maine and elsewhere to have been unaware that they were buying a parcel of land that was not permitted for quarrying. And now they are crying unfair. Is it unfair for Pike to obey the law? And they claim they create jobs. If someone had access to their records, would they actually find that Pike has a history of buying up competitors and then laying off the employees? I can understand the incentives Pike and its employees have to try to turn the Spring Street property into a legal quarry. In the long run, I don’t think a new quarry will help Westbrook economically or in any other way.
March 18, 2010 at 7:42 AM Report abuse
homeboy said...
This so-called issue is obviously a red herring thrown in by the Idexx folks and Smiling Hill Farms. These are the same types who tried to close the mill for years. When and only when we are all out of jobs will then they cry foul...
March 18, 2010 at 7:52 AM Report abuse
ISIW said...
Homeboy, A documented and actively monitored TCE contaminated site abutting Pike's rock pit is a "red herring"? The nearby residents discovered last week there are monitoring wells ON Pike's property. Although the neighbors found out about this site last week, we discovered in today's press that Pike KNEW about this pollution as early as 2008. If TCE is migrating into the pit blasting will likely vaporize this and put it into the air which will not only threaten every person passing thru this gateway to Westbrook as well as the nearby residents and Pike employees working at this location.
March 18, 2010 at 8:03 AM Report abuse
BSmart said...
Yes, of course. And a giant meteor missile from the planet ZON could destroy the earth.....Seriously...it could happen.
March 18, 2010 at 8:27 AM Report abuse
Westman said...
These NIMBY residents are getting desperate.
March 18, 2010 at 9:05 AM Report abuse
Les said...
MaineCrisis, Didn't get your coffee yet? Get a punctuation book and use it, Your post is a mess.
March 18, 2010 at 9:06 AM Report abuse
Chew said...
If the article is factually correct,the problems should not be directed at Pike. What I rread is that Texas Instruments is responsibel for the cleanup and the Maine DEP has been monitoring the site for a decade. What I want to know is why has the cleanup not been completed and WTF has the Maine DEP been doing monitoring the site when they should have been enforcing the cleanup?
March 18, 2010 at 9:30 AM Report abuse
SL said...
The issue isn;t directed at Oike but Pike should be the ones filing a motion against Texas Instruments, on the grounds that they have lessened the value of their property by the polution of their own. I'm not against Pike blasting, in fact I think it is fair. I am against aloowing that type of polution from spreading into the groundwater of the surrounding community. So Pike knew about this all along and still wanted to blast, that's wrong.
March 18, 2010 at 9:50 AM Report abuse
Russ123 said...
If people thought property values were going to drop because of a quarry in the area, we can thank Warren Knight for dropping them even further by exaggerating the hazards from a nearby landfill contaminated with cancer-causing toxic chemicals. Gee thanks Warren. Apparently you'll stop at nothing in your obsessive opposition to one of Westbrook's biggest taxpayers regardless of the harm you are doing to our community. You want Pike out so the city can achieve its "vision" of attracting "clean high-tech" businesses to the area? Think they'll come now that they know of this hazardous landfill? And does anyone see the irony here? It was one of those clean high-tech businesses, Texas Instruments, that is responsible for this pollution in the first place, not Pike.
March 18, 2010 at 11:33 AM Report abuse
Webster123 said...
Does anyone realize that this group that put on the press conference, with the help of Idexx's new PR firm no doubt, is the Toxics Action Network, the same group that chased the Casella waste incinerator out of Biddeford? And where is it going? TO WESTBROOK - about a stone's throw from where they held their news conference. Westbrook got rid of its stink, and now we're bringing it back with trash trucks at the Spring Street intersection every two minutes. Why isn't Warren Knight and IDEXX worked up about this?
March 18, 2010 at 11:45 AM Report abuse
BonusEleven said...
I've boycotted the farm's products. I suggest others do the same. Mr. Knight is nothing but a farmer who simply does NOT understand environmental contamination issues, especially those rooted in hydrogeologic processes. This individual has an agenda that is rooted in greed and profit at the expense of others familes and livlihoods. Mr. Knight should be ashamed of his actions and I truly hope HIS business suffers...of course when it does, all he'll do is sell some of his high valued real estate!! I say don't drink the milk and don't stop for ice cream!!
March 18, 2010 at 12:01 PM Report abuse
Kevin29 said...
The mayor was trying to work out a reasonable compromise on this quarry issue and get the parties together for the good of our community, and then these opponents come along with an out-of-state special interest group and try to scare people with fears of cancer. How low will Warren Knight and Idexx stoop? How much dioxin is in your ice cream, Mr. Knight? Care to tell us? Maybe the Toxics Action Network can take that one on next.
March 18, 2010 at 12:09 PM Report abuse
ISIW said...
Webster123, The residents of spring St and Birdland are closely watching the Casella proposal but they don't have a formal proposal in front of the city to respond to. Since I'm sure you'd agree it would be inappropriate for us to speculate on this proposal we need to wait to see what it is before taking a position on it. You're dead wrong on one account tho, the proposal discussed in the press so far leaves incinerator in Biddeford and only moves the trash sorting to Westbrook. I assure you we'll engage in this proposal once it's formally presented to Westbrook.
March 18, 2010 at 12:45 PM Report abuse
ISIW said...
Let's keep this simple folks. 1. We have an adjacent site contaminated with TCE that the DEP has closed and is monitoring. 2. The DEP does not know how far this spill has spread. 3. The DEP has put restrictions on disturbing this property to keep this pollutant from spreading. 4. Pike has known about this pollution from at least 2008 and probably at the time they purchased the property. 4. The DEP agrees with residents who have requested to the city steering committee that there needs to be an environmental/risk assessment with reopeners for any activity allowed to occur here.
March 18, 2010 at 12:53 PM Report abuse
William3 said...
Pike's Done. Boycotting ice cream and baby lambs? - Give me a break. DEP saying they don't konw how far the TCE has gone is the real news here. I'm seeing drilling in Westbrooks future, for groundwater sampling - not blasting. Think I'll head over for a cone.
March 18, 2010 at 1:39 PM Report abuse
BonusEleven said...
Sorry Williams but Mr. Knight is in the wrong here. He uses biosolids on his property. He stores winter snow from all over the city, which is likely contaminated, and then cuts the hay and feeds it to his cows. There's certainly more than one reason to boycott the milk and the ice cream. The guy is nothing but a wealthy NIMBY sitting on a pot of gold in land assets. So wah, wah, wah, cry a little more Mr. Knight!! Enjoy the ice cream Williams...I imagine it's free for you pal and likely more contaminated than a well near Pike will ever be!!
March 18, 2010 at 4:31 PM Report abuse
V0IxOTg4 said...
There was no blasting at this location before Pike bought the property. Pike is trying to do is put a blasting pit where one clearly doesn't belong. This site is just too small and too close to all sorts of legitimate communities interests. By the way, I recently bought some Smiling Hills skim milk -- it was absolutely delicious!
March 18, 2010 at 7:54 PM Report abuse
William3 said...
My wife heard the MPBN story on way home and headed to the farm for Milk. Had a nice cup of blueberry flavored this AM. Nothing new from Pike's hired guns. Guess they are holed up figuring out their next lies. Standby for early next week.
March 19, 2010 at 2:10 PM Report abuse