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BROWNFIELDS - Woolen Mill and Rope Manufacturing Plant

The 1873 Addition to the Georges River Woolen Mill

Location: Warren, Maine

Historical/Current Use: Former Woolen Mill and Rope Manufacturing.  Currently land has been redeveloped into a public green space.

Contaminants of Concern: Metals, volatile and semi-volatile organic compounds, petroleum compounds, polychlorinated bi-phenyls, and solvents.

Summary of Impact/Sensitive Receptors: Petroleum impact (diesel range organics) to the St. George River.

Background
The former Crowe Rope Industries facility has been utilized for industrial operations since 1790.  From 1790 to 1953, a portion of the facility was used by Georges River Woolen Mill to manufacture wool and from 1966 to 1997 the facility was used by Crowe Rope Industries, LLC to manufacture polypropylene rope.  The site consists of approximately 1.9 acres of land along the St. George River.  In 2004, Campbell Environmental Group was contracted through the Maine DEP Contract to conduct a Phase I and Phase II ESA at the site.  The Phase I ESA identified several areas of concern in the vicinity of the site.  These areas included the manufacturing building's floor drain system, construction materials within the building (asbestos, transformers, and pipes potentially containing oil), loading dock areas, former dye, coal, and oil houses associated with the former Georges River Woolen Mill, the location of former and out-of- service fuel oil underground storage tanks, and sediments in the St. George River.  Based on the results of the Phase I ESA, CEG prepared an investigation Work Plan, which included a Health and Safety Plan and Quality Assurance Project Plan for Phase II ESA activities.

Objective
The Phase II investigation was conducted to investigate the potential areas of concern identified during the completion of the Phase I ESA and to document any environmental issues that may affect future development.

Field investigation techniques included: excavation of eight test pits, installation of eight monitoring wells, groundwater sampling of select newly installed and existing monitoring wells, completion of a tidal survey using transducers, and collection of six sediment and six pore water samples.  A building inspection for polychlorinated bi-phenyl (PCB) containing materials, asbestos containing materials and floor drains and discharge locations was also conducted.

The former Georges River Woolen Mill

Select soil and groundwater samples were analyzed for one or more of the following analyses: volatile organic compounds, semi-volatile organic compounds, priority pollutant metals, and PCBs.  Soils were also screened on-site for select metals and VOCs using field instruments.  Based on the results of the Phase II field investigation activities and associated analytical data, CEG prepared a comprehensive Phase II ESA investigation report

The Crowe Rope site today

Results
The Phase II investigation found no source areas of constituents of concern except for a former 10,000 gallon fuel oil underground storage tank.  In this area buried petroleum impacted soils and sediments of the St. George River and liquid phase petroleum in the bedrock were identified. The constituents of concern that were detected were considered to be at concentrations that would not adversely impact human health or the environment given the intended use of the property as a public green space.  The constituents of concern were found over a wide area.  Some of the areas where the constituents were detected are considered upgradient of the facility operations. The concentration of many of the constituents are considered low enough to be accounted for by either native materials or through normal practices conducted during several hundred years of human occupation.

 Based on the results of the Phase II ESA, the Town of Warren demolished the building and removed all of the items of potential concern that were identified in this report. The property is currently being utilized a public green space.  No groundwater use or subsurface construction is planned.  This property use will minimize any exposure to the low concentrations of metals identified in the sediment, soil, and groundwater.  Therefore, the site and it's planned use does not appear to pose a risk to human health or the environment.

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Campbell Environmental Group

173 Gray Road

Falmouth, ME 04105

(207) 253-1990 f(207) 253-1988

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