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Amended Clean Up Decision Approved for Eastland Woolen Mill Superfund Site in Corinna, Maine

Release Date: 11/06/2006
Contact Information: David Deegan, (617) 918-1017

(Boston, Mass. - Nov. 6, 2006) - EPA has amended the final clean up plan at “Operable Unit I” of the Eastland Woolen Mill Superfund Site in Corinna, Maine.

The amended clean up plan for the site continues to ensure effective protections for human health and the environment in the Corinna area, and has been approved and finalized following significant public review and comment.

The plan is contained in a “Record of Decision” (ROD) first approved in Sept. 2002 and proposed for changes last May. The amended plan eliminates provisions for a long-term groundwater extraction and treatment system in the cleanup, as well as a surfactant/co-solvent flushing component of the cleanup.

The ROD Amendment is part of an ongoing early cleanup that represents EPA's commitment to facilitating the re-vitalization of communities impacted by years of industrial pollution. In 1996, when the Eastland Woolen Mill closed, Corinna was burdened with a declining tax based and a highly contaminated mill complex.

Working with the town of Corinna and the state of Maine, EPA developed a clean up strategy to remove the most significant contamination, including the former Eastland Woolen Mill as an early clean up action. At the same time, EPA provided resources through the Technical Assistance Grant program and the ReDevelopment Grant initiative to support the work of the Corinna Reuse Committee and Eastern Maine Development Corp. The collaboration between EPA, the state of Maine, the town of Corinna, and the Corinna Reuse Committee has resulted in clean up decisions that will allow for the reuse of these areas.

The Administrative Record, which includes the Record of Decision Amendment and other documents that formed the basis for EPA's selection of the clean up remedy, is available for review at EPA’s web site (epa.gov/region1/superfund/sites/eastland), as well as at the Stewart Public Library, 8 Levi Stewart Drive, Corinna, Maine.

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