Maine DEP Investigates.On April 16,1998, John Sowles, (then Maine DEP's marine ecologist) did a tour of these flats and shore areas 4/16/98 with Lee Doggett, (another MDEP ecologist), the Searsport clam warden, and Penobscot Bay Watch volunteers Herb Hoche, Ron Huber and Peter McFarland. Sowles describes these two places in a May 7, 98 email to MDEP land and water quality staffer Clarissa Trasko as thus.
"The sediment itself is a discolored off white creamy color in small patches up to a meter square. Just under the surface, over an area comprising about an acre, similar discolored sediment is found. Overall depths of the discolored material varied from a few millimeters to several (10) centimeters. Below the discolored material, a typical anoxic (black) sediment is found. The texture of the discolored material is similar to mud/silt,having a high water content.
"The origin of the material is probably from historic spills and slumping banks and chemical piles .An eroding slumping enbankment is immediately landward of the altered flat. This is filled land, and according to Alec [Alec Horth, then-manager of the General Alum plant], contains a creamy/light rose colored bauxite. Presumably the beach and flat contains this same material."
Read Field Investigation Reports by John Sowles and by Lee Doggett
While the Maine Department of Environmental Protection has occasionally levied fines on the company, hyperacidic discharges, and erosion of tailings into what was once one ofPenobscot Bay's best clamflats continued.
Conservation Law Foundation weighs in. On October 3, 2001 Conservation Law Foundation filed a notice of intent to sue General ALUM (GAC) for past and ongoing violations of the federal Aclean Water Act. A year later, 10/9/02, CLF reached a settlement with GAC Chemical Corporation
Attorney Fleming noted that the company's spill containment protocols continue to be insufficient. On April 19th and 20th, he noted, the company spilled 800 gallon sulfuric acid into Penobscot Bay.
Fleming said that CLF's examination of pollution concerns at the General Alum site followed a 1998 investigation by area watchdog group Penobscot Bay Watch that led to the company having to remove thousands of gallons of oily wastes from a crumbling catchbasin perched a few feet away from Penobscot Bay.
