The Maine Department of Environmental Protection has filed another notice of violation against the owner of a former Orrington chemical company for allegedly failing to complete environmental cleanup at the site.
Mallinckrodt US "continues to evade the clear requirement" that it remove remaining mercury-contaminated soil at the old HoltraChem factory, according to the Oct. 20 notice.
The state said the company had failed to submit a revised cleanup plan to excavate tainted soil and had not filed a suitable proposal to remove an industrial sewer at the site.
The company also had not established a trust fund to cover future operation of the plant's wastewater treatment plant, groundwater collection and monitoring, according to the notice.
"In accordance with Maine law and this department's orders, the DEP expects that Mallinckrodt will immediately resume efforts to accomplish site remediation," it said in a press release.
The company was initially notified that it was in violation this spring, but proposed revisions to its cleanup plan did not meet the state's requirements for mercury removal, according to the notice.
HoltraChem manufactured chlorine, caustic soda, bleach and a pesticide at the Orrington factory for more than 30 years before closing in 2000. Mallinckrodt reached a remediation settlement with the state in 2014.
Three years ago, the company agreed to pay at least $187 million to address mercury pollution in the Penobscot river and settle a long-running lawsuit from the Natural Resources Defense Council and Maine People's Alliance.
Representatives for Mallinckrodt's parent company, Minneapolis-based medical device manufacturer Medtronic, did not respond to requests for comment Wednesday.
In an August letter to DEP accompanying the company's latest cleanup plan, it said it had spent hundreds of millions of dollars in 17 years of "good faith compliance" with state orders. The work it proposed was tailored to the realities of the site, it added.
Meeting the state's mercury removal standards "is infeasible, dangerous to attempt, and not necessary for addressing site risk," Mallinckrodt said.
