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EPA COMPLETES ENVIRONMENTAL CLEANUP AT BATES MILL

Release Date: 02/08/1999
Contact Information: Alice Kaufman, EPA Community Affairs Office, (617) 918-1064

Boston - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) recently completed $386,770 cleanup at the Bates Mill Manufacturing Complex in downtown Lewiston, Maine, coupled with the previous EPA Brownfields grant of $200,000, together pave the way for future development of the mill buildings.

"EPA is committed to being part of Lewiston's future by helping clean up its past," said John P. DeVillars, EPA's New England administrator. "This cleanup and the Brownfields grant funds will help jump start the economic revitalization of a great city."

Brownfields are abandoned, idled or underused industrial and commercial properties where expansion or redevelopment is complicated by pollution. EPA's Brownfields grants are directed to the identification and assessment of these sites for development.

Bates Mill Complex is located at 65-177 Canal Street and consists of 11 buildings with 1.2 million square feet of business space on 13.5 acres. Twenty-four businesses, employing 600 employees, operate in the renovated mill. The site is surrounded by canals and is within 1/4 mile of the Androscoggin River. Waterways and tunnels flow through the complex and an abandoned railroad line goes through the building.

The city's ultimate objective is to use the Bates Mill Complex as an anchor for downtown economic redevelopment and as a catalyst for community job creation. The EPA Brownfields grant has been used for an initial assessment of the site and for developing cleanup plans.

"EPA's cleanup work has furthered redevelopment of the Bates Mill and helped us make additional space available for new tenants and new jobs," said Alan Turgeon, Lewiston Redevelopment Corporation.

"EPA's financial and technical assistance is vital to a project of this size," said John Bott, Lewiston Brownfields project director. "Our Brownfields pilot is already serving as an example for other communities around the country."

During a preliminary investigation in March of last year, EPA found 200 abandoned, deteriorated and leaking drums. EPA also identified large quantities of asbestos piping insulation in poor condition, several above ground storage tanks, and transformers containing PCBs. All materials have since been removed from the site.

"The city has been a great partner in this project," said DeVillars. "When it came time to hire a contractor to remove the asbestos from the buildings, we were able to go to a qualified Lewiston company to do the work , Morrissey Enterprises. The project has been done cooperatively from the beginning."