Uncontrolled Hazardous Substance Sites in Maine Stemming from Portland-Bangor Waste Oil Company
History of the Portland Bangor Waste Oil Company
Beginning in 1969, Mr. George West (now deceased) began operating a waste oil recycling business that grew throughout Maine, known as the Portland-Bangor Waste Oil Company (PBWO). The company collected used motor oil from military bases, auto dealerships, municipalities, local garages, industries, and utility companies throughout Maine and other parts of New England. The waste oil was stored in tanks at at least five locations in Maine: Casco, Ellsworth, Plymouth, Presque Isle and Wells. Once the oil settled in the storage tanks, it became stratified. PBWO decanted the lighter oil and sold it for various uses, including to paper mills as a fuel supplement. PBWO sold the heavier oils to towns and racetracks as a dust suppressant for dirt roads. However, some of the waste oil was spilled, leaked or otherwise deposited onto the ground, contaminating soil and groundwater at the five sites. George West ceased operation of the PBWO in 1980, just prior to implementation of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), which was aimed at preventing these types of releases at Hazardous Waste Facilities.
Closure of the Waste Oil Lagoons at PBWO-Wells
The Uncontrolled Sites Law
To address pre-existing contamination at sites like PBWO, in 1983 the Maine Legislature created the Uncontrolled Hazardous Substance Sites Program (Uncontrolled Sites Program). Under the Uncontrolled Sites Law:
- Hazardous substances are broadly defined to include hazardous wastes, waste oil and most other pollutants;
- MEDEP is authorized to designate locations where hazardous substances are located as Uncontrolled Hazardous Substance Sites;
- MEDEP is authorized to investigate and clean-up uncontrolled hazardous substance sites, or to require responsible parties to undertake the clean up;
- MEDEP is authorized to recover the cost of investigations, clean up and other “response” costs from responsible parties. Liability is joint and several;
- Responsible Parties are individuals or companies that:
- Owned and/or Operated the site at anytime after the hazardous substance arrived at the site;
- Arranged for transport or handling of hazardous substances which arrived at such a site; and
- and persons who accepted hazardous substances for transport if the substances arrived at such a site
- The business records of the Portland Bangor Waste Oil Company are available for Review at the Augusta DEP
Identification of Potential Responsible Parties
Maine DEP obtained the business records of the PBWO company and hired a contractor to develop lists of parties that had waste shipped to the site, and the companies that transported wastes to the site. These records, contained in 40 boxes, are available for inspection at the DEP’s Bureau of Remediation File room in Augusta by appointment. Volumetric ranking summaries are available on this webpage, below.
Cleanup activities at the Portland Bangor Waste Oil Sites
The PBWO Plymouth site has undergone remediation and clean-up under the federal Superfund Program. PBWO Wells has undergone remediation under the State's uncontrolled sites program and clean up is complete. The Casco, Ellsworth, and Presque Isle sites are undergoing investigation and remediation under the state uncontrolled sites program. The State has reached cost recovery and liability settlement agreements at the Wells site, and is negotiating agreements at the Casco, Ellsworth and Plymouth sites. Details of the restoration activities at state lead sites are available at the links below, including site locations, investigations to date, future mitigation activities, response costs to date, and volumetric rankings of potential responsible parties.
| PBWO - Casco Site |
Document Title |
Microsoft Word or Excel Format |
Adobe Acrobat PDF |
One Page Fact Sheet summarizing the site
|
doc |
pdf |
MEDEP Decision Document as to why remedial actions were undertaken
|
N/A |
pdf |
Designation of the Site as an Uncontrolled Hazardous Substance Site
|
N/A |
pdf |
PRP List sorted by NAME - the Potential Responsible Party List including: Company Name, City, State, Rank, Total Volume shipped to site, Percentage of total waste:
|
xls |
pdf |
PRP List Sorted by VOLUME
|
See Above |
pdf |
PRP List Sorted by TOWN
|
See Above |
pdf |
Preliminary Questionnaire for FAME funding eligibility
|
doc |
pdf |
Power Point Presentation – Remedial Investigation and Action
|
ppt |
pdf |
Power Point Presentation – Photos of the Casco Site Remediation
|
Not yet Available |
Not yet Available |
Initial MEDEP Settlement Offer to the PRPs
|
Not yet Available |
Not yet Available
|
PRP Contact Information form
|
doc |
pdf |
| PBWO - ELLSWORTH |
Document Title |
Microsoft Word or Excel Format |
Adobe Acrobat PDF |
One Page Fact Sheet summarizing the site
|
doc |
pdf |
MEDEP Decision Document as to why remedial actions were undertaken
|
N/A |
pdf |
Designation of the Site as an Uncontrolled Hazardous Substance Site
|
N/A |
pdf |
PRP List sorted by NAME - the Potential Responsible Party List including: Company Name, City, State, Rank, Total Volume shipped to site, Percentage of total waste:
|
xls |
pdf |
PRP List Sorted by VOLUME
|
See above |
pdf |
PRP List Sorted by TOWN
|
See Above |
pdf |
Preliminary Questionnaire for FAME funding eligibility
|
doc |
pdf |
Power Point Presentation – Remedial Investigation and Action
|
ppt |
pdf |
PRP Contact Information form
|
doc |
pdf |
Initial MEDEP Settlement Offer to the PRPs |
Not Yet Available |
Not Yet Available
|
PBWO – Presque Isle |
Document Title |
Microsoft Word or Excel Format |
Adobe Acrobat PDF |
| One Page Fact Sheet summarizing the site |
Not Yet Available |
Not Yet Available |
PBWO – Plymouth (Hows Corner)
|
PBWO-Plymouth: Redirect to EPA’s Superfund Site Website
Document Title |
Microsoft Word or Excel Format |
Adobe Acrobat PDF |
Questionnaire for PRPs to determine funding eligibility under the FAME program |
Not available |
pdf |
PRP Certification for FAME funding |
doc |
pdf |
March 10, 2009: Draft Natural Resources Compensation Plan for Public Comment; & Announcement of public meeting in Plymouth on March 31, 2009. (Comments on Plan due April 15, 2009) Not available pdf |
Not available |
pdf |
Public Interest Comments Regarding Natural Resource Damage Compensation at the Hows Corner George West Superfund Site, Plymouth, ME |
Not available |
pdf |
|
| |
Financial Authority of Maine (FAME) to Cover the “Response Cost” for Some Maine Businesses
In 2007, the Maine Legislature passed a law to help responsible parties pay the costs associated with the cleanup of four Portland-Bangor Waste Oil sites in Maine:
PBWO-Casco
PBWO-Ellsworth, Robbins Property
PBWO-Plymouth, Hows Corner Superfund Site
PBWO-Presque Isle
This law was subsequently amended in 2008. The “Waste Motor Oil Disposal Site Remediation Program” (10 Maine Revised Statute Annotated, Chapter 110, Subchapter 1-F, Section 1020-A) provides a process to have the Finance Authority of Maine (FAME) pay for “response costs” of certain eligible PRPs. Only those PRPs that are found to be “eligible” will qualify for payment of their response costs. PRPs should carefully review the eligibility criteria in the law, but in general, the law covers parties that sent waste motor oil to the Site, including Maine government agencies, Maine businesses, and their successors, specifically:
1. State licensed new car and truck dealers;
2. State licensed used car and truck dealers;
3. Some commercial auto repair shops;
4. Some fleet auto repair shops;
5. Some shops that preformed repairs on some special or other mobile equipment; and
6. Parties that sent less than 110 gallons of waste oil to the site
Note: The Maine Legislature intended to fund eligible parties at the four different Portland-Bangor Waste Oil sites. However, the fund’s revenue mechanism is currently insufficient to cover all eligible response costs.
Next Steps in Resolving Liability of the Potential Responsible Parties at the PBWO-Casco site
MEDEP will use the following procedure to resolve the PRPs’ potential liability for this site. We encourage the PRPs’ participation in this process.
- Return Form: To ensure that all PRPs receive all future pertinent documents and information, MEDEP requests that each PRP fill out and return the contact form. The form requests a contact name, telephone number, email address, and current mailing address. Persons not filing this information may not receive necessary information or notices necessary for them to resolve their liability with respect to this site, or to receive funding. Returning the form simply provides DEP with the PRPs’ contact information; it is not an admission of liability.
- Potentially Responsible Party (PRP) Meeting: The MEDEP will hold two meetings; one for the Casco Site PRPs and one for the Ellsworth Site PRPs. The purpose of these meetings is to provide a forum for MEDEP to respond to any questions that the PRPs may have, and for the PRPs to meet the other PRPS and discuss information of a PROP group to represent the PRPs' interests at each of these sites. A representative from FAME will be present as well, to answer questions regarding possible funding of any response costs incurred by the PRPs' company under the Maine Waste Motor Oil Disposal Site Remediation Program.
A. Casco Site: The PRP meeting for the Casco site was held on February 25, 2009 at MEDEP Response Building, 4 Blossom Lane, on the AMHI Campus in East Augusta at 1:00 P.M. to which all of the Potentially Responsible Parties (PRPs) were invited. PBWO Casco Combined Presentation.
B. Ellsworth Site: The PRP meeting for the Ellsworth Site was held on March 4, 2009 at the Ellsworth City Hall Auditorium, 1 City Hall Plaza, at 10:00 A.M. to which all of the PBWO-Ellsworth Potentially Responsible Parties (PRPs) were invited. Ellsworth Combined Presentation.
- Demand for Payment Letters: In the near future, MEDEP will issue Demand for Payment letters to responsible parties, which will allocate costs to viable PRPs, based upon the volume of waste transported to the site.
- Final Settlement: The MEDEP will pursue a settlement with the PRPs. DEP will post a draft settlement offer on this webpage shortly, and notify the PRPs that have provide contact information. This settlement will include a release of liability for the site in exchange for payment of MEDEP’s past and future response costs and resolution of the State’s claims for natural resource damages.
More information on the Project File, Data, Maps and Transactional Documents
A review of the Portland Bangor Waste Oil Company project files, data, maps and PBWO business documents can be arranged through the Bureau of Remediation File Room website.
For more information on the PBWO-Casco Site, Ellsworth Site and Presque Isle Site:
Kathy Howatt, Project Manager
Maine DEP
17 SHS
Augusta, ME 04333-0017
Phone: 207-287-4861
email:Kathy.Howatt@maine.gov
For more information on the PBWO-Plymouth Site:
Rebecca Hewett, Project Manager
Maine DEP
17 SHS
Augusta, ME 04333-0017
Phone: 207-287-8554
Email:Rebecca.L.Hewett@maine.gov
For more information on the Uncontrolled Sites Program in General
David Wright, Director of Remediation
Maine DEP
17 SHS
Augusta ME 04333-0017
Phone: 207-287-7673
Email:David.W.Wright@Maine.gov
