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EPA to Begin Cleanup in Lyman, Maine

Release Date: 08/04/2003
Contact Information: A lice Kaufman, EPA Community Involvement Office, 617-918-1064

BOSTON - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will begin a $180,000 cleanup this week at a property on Davis Road in Lyman, Maine.

Following an anonymous tip of illegal midnight dumping of oil 25 years prior, the Maine Department of Environmental Protection took numerous soil samples on the Davis Road property. The results showed soils contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls, metals and other chemicals. The state asked for cleanup assistance from the EPA.

EPA plans to excavate contaminated soils from a 100-foot by 100-foot area in an active gravel pit on the property. The agency will sample these soils to determine the chemicals present, a step necessary in determining where the soils can be taken for safe disposal at a licensed facility. The property will then be graded and restored.

Residents should be aware that cleanup workers will be wearing white coveralls according to state and federal protection requirements. Although these protective suits attract attention, residents should not be alarmed as this is not an indication that there is an environmental danger to the surrounding neighborhoods.