Maine news, sports, weather from Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram, Portland, Maine

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.

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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