Mallinckrodt sues to stop DEP
Mallinckrodt LLC today said it has filed an action in federal court to prevent the Maine Department of Environmental Protection from enforcing an order that requires Mallinckrodt to implement what it calls "extreme and unnecessary remediation measures" at the former HoltraChem manufacturing facility in Orrington.
The commissioner of the DEP signed an order in late November that requires St. Louis-based Mallinckrodt, which owned and operated the former HoltraChem chlorine and chemical manufacturing facility from 1967 to 1982, to undertake an extensive cleanup that includes the excavation of five landfills that contain mercury-contaminated soil above the state's clean-up standards, according to a press release from the company. Mallinckrodt has been working with a consultant on the cleanup of the site and said the excavation of the landfills was already rejected as an option because it would expose the public to potentially harmful amounts of mercury, would be extremely costly with no environmental benefit and would require 60,000 truck trips carrying approximately 360,000 tons of soil to a licensed facility in Canada.
Mallinckrodt claims it has spent more than $35 million on remediation efforts at the site over the past 15 years.
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