Seaweed farming updates public meeting August 29, Belfast Hutchinson Ctr

“Seaweed Scene 2013”, on August 29^th, 2013, from 9:00-4:00, at the University of Maine’s Hutchinson Center at 80 Belmont Avenue (Route 3) in Belfast, Maine. 

This will be a day of all thing Seaweed, as we catch up on projects, network, and share ideas. Morning refreshments and lunch will be provided. 

No fee to attend, but we do ask for an RSVP. Email  sarah.redmond@maine.edu 

an RSVP if you have not yet signed up.  

Agenda August 29th

9:00 -  9:30 Arrivals, refreshments

9: 30-10:00:   Welcome & Introductions

10:00-12:00:  Research Update Presentations 

10:00-10:15    Seaweed on Shellfish Farms: Another step forward

10:15-10:30  News from the front: The year in review from Ocean Approved

10:30-10:45  Urchins and Seaweed – 2 potential new industries for Maine 

10:45-11:00    Break

11:00-11:15    Seaweed farming in Long Island Sound: Update from Connecticut  

11:15-11:30    New Paths Forward: Maine Algae & The Maine Seaweed Institute

11:30-11:45    EPSCOR / Aquaculture Research Institute & New Species R&D 

12:00 - 1:00    Lunch & Vendors / Food and Networking

1:00 - 2:30   Seaweed Café Break-outs:  Three 20-minute sessions each to share ideas, covering various topics within the world of seaweed, including:

• Seaweed Science, Mgmt & Policy:  Developing the Seaweed Industry 

2:30 - 3:30    Break out Reports with entire group

3:30 - 4:00    Future Directions & Wrap up

4:30-7:30     Kelp Farming Techniques with Ocean Approved and UConn

Sarah Redmond & Seth Barker

Paul Dobbins/Tollef Olson

Steve Eddy

Dr. Charles Yarish

Willie Wilson & Liz Solet 

Annie Langston & Carter Newell

GAC Chemical's Spill Reports 2002 - 2010

General Alum & Chemical 1994 outfall fail.
Photo courtesy Project Lighthawk

Stuff happens.
Someone turns a valve not quite tight enough or too tight, or spills some toxic substance.  It must be responded to. It happens at GAC now and then.

Read below how GAC  has reported spills to the govt. Followed by a notice of a completed remediation project on  their site

GAC CHEMICAL'S SPILL HISTORY 2010 - 2002

2/03/2010 : B-57-2010 http://maine.gov/dep/rwm/hoss/report.php?spill_number=B-57-2010

6/22/08  B-356-2008 http://maine.gov/dep/rwm/hoss/report.php?spill_number=B-356-2008

5/25/08 B-291-2008 http://maine.gov/dep/rwm/hoss/report.php?spill_number=B-291-2008

1/19/08 B-35-2008 http://maine.gov/dep/rwm/hoss/report.php?spill_number=B-35-2008

7/11/06  B-389-2006  http://maine.gov/dep/rwm/hoss/report.php?spill_number=B-389-2006 

3/04/05 B-112-2005  http://maine.gov/dep/rwm/hoss/report.php?spill_number=B-112-2005

11/17/04 B-627-2004  http://maine.gov/dep/rwm/hoss/report.php?spill_number=B-627-2004

10/14/04  B-556-2004 http://maine.gov/dep/rwm/hoss/report.php?spill_number=B-556-2004

7/20/03 B-345-2003 http://maine.gov/dep/rwm/hoss/report.php?spill_number=B-345-2003

12/10/02  B-656-2002  http://maine.gov/dep/rwm/hoss/report.php?spill_number=B-656-2002

8/20/02  B-434-2002 http://maine.gov/dep/rwm/hoss/report.php?spill_number=B-434-2002

GAC VRAP SITE Permit # REM01170  Remediation completed

http://www.maine.gov/dep/gis/datamaps/brwm_remediation_sites/rpt_rem_site_list.pdf

Acid Testing GAC Chemical's Stockton Harbor shore, August 4, 2013

On August 4, 2013, Friends of Penobscot Bay carried out pH testing of water and soils on both side of the first cove of Stockton Harbor near GAC Chemical.

( See photos of the pH tests being done here. (includes closeups of  pH meters at sites.)

The tests were not intended to be conclusive. They were carried out to see if there are anomalies or changes in acidity of the soils and sediments tested at various distances from the abandoned sulfuric acid plant (the bldgs above the "6" in the photo below).

Summary 

Test gear: Ferry-Morse "Electronic Soil Tester" and  Luster Leaf's "Rapitest." 

Narrative: The testing began on the end of the sandbar in the cove facing the old acid plant (1,2), crossed over the cove to the intertidal flats on the shore side of the cove (3,4), sampled three areas of the eroding bluff, (5,6,7)  then the gravelly beach shoreline(8) and two areas of mudflats close to and "downstream" from the abandoned facility (9, 10) Area 10 was tested multiple times.  

Results See photos of the pH tests being done here. (includes closeups of the pH meters at sites.) The pH was near neutral (pH 7) in areas 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5.  A lower pH was found  in site 6 above the concrete debris under the old sulfuric acid factory & storage tank.  Acidity increased sharply in the gray eroding material at area 7 on the steep path leading  from the shore to the old factory  (pH 4.5 to 4.8).  Readings in the  gravelly beach & mudflat directly below Area 7 and bayward were as low as pH 2.2.

A great deal of sulfuric acid  must have leaked from the old plant  (believed to have been shut down in the early 1970s) and its storage tank for it to still be leaking into the soils and shores and the intertidal flats!