WILTON — The Maine Department of Environmental Protection on Friday approved the cleanup of asbestos recently completed at the Forster Mill.
There were a couple small areas found that needed a little work, but they were something that could be done within the hour, DEP lead and asbestos inspector John Bucci said Friday afternoon following a walk around the mill.
Owner Adam Mack and his representative, Peter Jensen, joined the DEP inspectors along with Abatement Professionals, the company which completed the cleanup, Bucci said.
Bucci was satisfied with the results and that the mill was clean, although there potentially could be some asbestos in the roof, and the boiler room contains asbestos, he said.
“We’re glad we’re here. It’s been a long process and a huge job. Let’s hope the demolition gets going and lets the town feel better,” he said.
One of the initial inspectors who toured the site in July 2011, Bucci has suited up and toured the work area weekly basis over the last two months “to make sure everything was going well,” he said.
Demolition of the former mill was halted last summer after DEP testing found significant amounts of asbestos.
A crew working for contractor Ryan Byther of Downeast Construction disturbed a significant amount of asbestos and made a mess, Bucci said. The crew did some salvage of construction materials and left the asbestos.
Some asbestos abatement was completed last fall by Abatement Professionals, but the work stopped while the owner tried to secure funding to finish the work.
After months of trying to obtain an abatement plan, DEP gave the owner one last chance to start remediation work this July before the federal Environmental Protection Agency cleaned it up and billed the owner.
The cleanup work has been slow.
“I can’t tell you how difficult it was. Sometimes they were down on their hands and knees cleaning the cracks in the floors while in a suit and respirator,” Bucci said. “They tried to get the majority of the really bad stuff.”
The DEP will continue to monitor the demolition work. Because of the age of the building, the roof may contain asbestos, but a large piece of equipment could take it down. There will be another round of testing, but handling this is different. Removal is less regulated, he said.
The boiler room is a building apart from the mill, and the asbestos was not disturbed by Byther. DEP is comfortable with leaving it until the owner is ready to demolish it, he said.
“It’s a huge mill. We could come across another issue, so we’ll work with the demolition crew,” Bucci said. “To the best of our knowledge, the cleanup is complete. The abatement contractor did a heck of a job.”
Attempts to reach the owner’s representative Friday were unsuccessful.
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