MERI Involvement in Callahan Mine Superfund Site

The Callahan Mine site, located in the village of Harborside in the town of Brooksville, Maine, was designated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as a Superfund site in September of 2002. From the 1880s to the early 1970s, the Callahan Mine Site was subjected to intermittent mining for zinc and copper ore. The mining operations were conducted adjacent to and beneath a tidal estuary, reputedly making Callahan Mine the only intertidal heavy metal mining operation in the world at that time.

MERI was selected by the EPA as the holder of a Technical Assistance Grant (TAG) to facilitate community participation in decision-making regarding the Callahan Mine site. The EPA Superfund Program awards one Technical Assistance Grant for community participation for each Superfund site on the National Priorities List (NPL). MERI has formed a Steering Committee made up of community residents, as well as representatives of organizations that represent a cross-section of community members, to advise and assist MERI on the Callahan Mine TAG process.

In its outreach role, MERI provides a number of important services to the community, which include establishing a 10-member Steering Committee made up of concerned local residents and representatives of area conservation groups, facilitating public information sessions and Steering Committee meetings, disseminating information through the print media and via the MERI website, and managing the community’s Technical Assistance Grant, intended to ensure that the community has a voice in determining that adequate testing is carried out and is informed about health hazards related to the site throughout the remediation process.

Brief History of Callahan Mine Site, Brooksville, Maine

• 1880s: Underground mining begins and continues off and on for over half a century
• 1964: Callahan Mining Corporation acquires a lease for the Brooksville site from Penobscot Mining Company, Ltd.
• 1966-67: Dams permitted and constructed at either end of Goose Pond
• 1968: Open-pit mining for copper/zinc ore
  • Mining primarily for Cu and Zn (1.3% Cu, 4.91% Zn, 0.35% Pb, 0.50 oz/ton)
• 1972: Mining discontinued due to depletion of mineral reserve
• 2001: Site proposed to the EPA as a Superfund site
• September 2002: Site officially becomes listed by the EPA as a Superfund site
• October 2002: MERI assembles a coalition of concerned residents and groups and submits an application for the community Technical Assistance Grant
• June 2003: EPA selects MERI as the TAG recipient for the Callahan Mine Superfund Site
• September 2004: MERI issues request for proposals (RFP), closing October 1, 2004, for the selection of an independent Technical Advisor
• December 2004:  MERI and Steering Committee select Jacques Whitford Co., Inc. of Portland as Technical Advisor 
• February 2005:  MERI Hires Jacques Whitford Co, Inc. as Technical Advisor

For more information about the Callahan Mine and EPA Superfund see the following sites: