CARIBOU, Maine – Caribou’s long-defunct and toxic steam plant will soon undergo a major cleanup from the federal Environmental Protection Agency.
City officials have a goal of revitalizing Caribou’s riverfront. Like other Maine cities and towns with contaminated former industrial sites, Caribou hopes to one day fill the space with businesses, housing and more recreational areas. But for decades, the defunct power plant site on Lower Lyndon Street has been one of the largest obstacles due to dangerous chemicals still inside the massive diesel and steam plants.
Though both plants contain asbestos, the 12,288-square-foot steam plant’s asbestos is softer and “friable,” meaning more easily released, and has already leaked from overhead pipe insulation. Those dangers prompted the EPA to utilize $2 million from a federal “superfund” to remove asbestos and other waste at the steam plant prior to working on the diesel plant.
The city received a separate $900,000 grant from the EPA’s Brownfields program that will fund chemical waste removal at the diesel plant after the EPA completes their work at the steam plant this fall.
At the steam plant, EPA workers will soon be installing a 6-foot metal fence around the perimeter that will protect the site from trespassers, said Catherine Young, the EPA’s on-site coordinator for the project.
EPA officials have alerted Caribou police, who will increase their patrols near the steam plant as a precaution, Young said.
Both the diesel and steam plants have been subject to vandalism in recent years. Though the EPA boarded up the steam plant several months ago, graffiti can now be seen on the wooden boards that line the plant’s front windows.
Starting July 8, workers from the EPA will begin cleaning up non-toxic standing water and debris to prepare for the asbestos removal.
That same month, the EPA will go out to bid and choose a subcontractor who is a licensed asbesto remover. They hope to begin removing asbestos in early August, Young said.
According to a study from County Environmental Engineering, the steam plant contains more than 11,000 feet of asbestos pipe insulation and 14,000 square feet of surface material containing asbestos.
Young said that the EPA will set up air quality monitors during the asbestos removal to ensure that the chemical does not enter the air. In the unlikely event that that occurs, the EPA would shut down operations, investigate the cause and enact measures to prevent future releases.
“I don’t envision a scenario where that would happen because everything is contained inside the steam plant,” Young said.
This week, Darriel Swatts, the EPA’s community involvement coordinator, will be visiting property owners who live near the power plant to pass out fact sheets and answer questions, Young said.
Caribou city staff have also received copies of the fact sheets to distribute, said City Manager Penny Thomspon.
The EPA expects clean-up of the steam plant to end in mid to late October, Young said.
Throughout the project, the paved road leading to the boat launch past the power plant will be blocked, but residents can still access the launch through the dirt road adjacent to the work site, Young noted.
|DNP:true
