CARIBOU, Maine — The Northern Maine Development Commission met on Thursday Feb. 13th for their regular Executive Board of Directors meeting. The meeting was held in the NMDC Boardroom, where the board met for lunch prior to addressing the meeting’s lengthy agenda, stretching well beyond a page.
Budget revisions from the 2013-14 year, ending on Jan. 31, 2014, along with an agency-wide revenue and expenditure statement were two early agenda items discussed, giving board members a brief overview of finances from the 2013-14 fiscal year.
Director of Operations, Ruby Bradbury reported the revised total revenue for the 2013-14 year came to $8,214,560. There was a variance of $659,576 from the original revenue total, but Bradbury explained $500,000 of this has already been set aside for the World Acadian Congress.
Since the last meeting there has also been $110,000 accredited to the fund, which is being held for the town of Washburn’s dam project. The revised total for direct and indirect expenditures for the year was $7,834,406. This was a variance of $270,047 from the original expenditure amount, as reported by Bradbury.
The 2013-14 budget revisions were also reported by Bradbury and included a long list of grants, both state and federal, as well as a number of dues, fees and contributions falling under the revenue column. Bradbury explained that NMDC had not received an Advanced Manufacturing grant from the Economic Development Administration, which was expected in the original budget. NMDC did, however, receive an EDA Investing in Manufacturing Communities Partnership (IMCP) grant for $200,000. However, the IMCP grant basically offset the balance caused by the lack of an Advanced Manufacturing grant, Bradbury later explained.
Another important item on the agenda was the request for authorization to submit a Brownfields Assessment Application to the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) for $200,000. The grant is part of the EPA’s Targeted Brownfields Assessments (TBA). TBA’s are conducted by an EPA contractor on behalf of an eligible public entity. Services include site assessments, cleanup options, cost estimates, as well as community outreach.
The EPA New England TBA program helps municipalities and non-profits partnered with municipalities to redevelop contaminated parcels in their communities. The purpose of a TBA is to minimize the uncertainties surrounding the actual or perceived contamination associated with these sites.
Senior Planner for NMDC Jay Kamm, gave the presentation and explained exactly what would be submitted to the EPA for the assessment.
“NMDC is seeking $200,000 to continue the community-wide Brownfields Assessment Program in NMDC’s Service Area. The northern Maine Brownfields initiative will identify and review potentially contaminated sites located within the service area,” said Kamm.
The service area for the possible assessments would include areas in or around Danforth and Patten,” said Kamm. “Then, recommendations for mitigation will be made, followed by remediation and ideas for effective re-use of the properties.”
Kamm cautioned that the grants for the Brownfields Assessments are very competitive and that NMDC is yet to experience any luck obtaining the EPA funding, but it’s certainly not for a lack of trying.
“We did receive a $400,000 Brownfields Assessment grant back in October 2012, and as of today we’ve assessed nine properties and have two more in our queue,” said Kamm. “However, this essentially uses up all of our hazardous substance funding. That’s why we’re asking for the $200,000 to continue the assessment program, in regards to hazardous substances only. It’s good to have some funding available to look at properties that are potentially contaminated by petroleum products.”
Kamm attempted to stress the importance of coming up with a unique and creative proposal to submit to the EPA. With hundreds of applications pouring in from all over the nation the EPA is flooded with a variety of ideas they must evaluate.
“The next round of submissions to the EPA is out and we’re hoping to apply, but it’s awful hard. This is either the fifth or sixth year we’ve applied for the grant, but the EPA gets over 800 applications nationwide,” said Kamm. “Coming up with an ‘assessment’ is where you really have stand out and come up with something creative.”
Kamm told the board that NMDC has spoken with some of the service area’s local Police Chiefs and have decided to focus much of their attention on structures that have previously been identified as methamphetamine labs, while looking at the long-term assessments of these contaminated properties.
NMDC will take part in organizing the initiative, as well as providing staff to support the committee. The Committee will include local elected officials, individuals and representatives from businesses, economic development, environmental protection and public health organizations, along with various community groups possessing a broad range of interests affected by the existence of Brownfields.
Kamm went on to explain that the initiative will involve the screening of sites for assessment, using pre-determined selection criteria. Site selection for assessments will be solicited by nomination from the region. Properties that will not be eligible for assessment are residential structures (except for meth labs), municipally owned public works or landfills, structures already having work done, or any listed on the National Priorities List. All sites must be approved by Maine Department of Environmental Protection staff.
The question echoing throughout the boardroom became, “why meth labs?” With the use and manufacturing of methamphetamine becoming a growing problem in Aroostook County it’s an issue that Kamm sees rapidly approaching. Properties being labeled as former meth labs are being looked at with not only disdain throughout communities, but also with fear and worry of what lingering effects these chemicals may have on a property.
The dwellings where a meth lab has been operating becomes contaminated and poses serious health risks to future inhabitants. The ceilings, floors, carpets, walls, drapes and furnishings are all contaminated by the toxic fumes and residue from the dangerous chemicals.
When asked how many of these former meth labs are currently being looked at for assessment Kamm replied by telling the board there are currently eight structures, in Caribou alone, that they know of.
“If we are successful we would actually be the first in the country to identify and assess these meth labs, and I’m always concerned about being a pioneer when it comes to things like this, but about 16 percent of court cases in Aroostook County are now considered to be meth-related,” said Kamm. “We’ve talked to Police Chiefs and we’ve talked to building inspectors and lending institutions and these meth labs are a real problem.”
Local lending institutions have had an increase of foreclosures on properties that were used as labs. Bank officials have indicated that the resale value of these properties have been extremely low as potential purchasers are concerned with the unknown long-term health risks associated with these buildings.
“We really want to make sure the properties proposed to us have some sort of redevelopment potential. We’re looking to get these type of properties back up and running,” said Kamm. “There’s a stigma attached to these ‘meth lab’ properties, so there’s been a lot of problems trying to sell them once this happens. The building inspectors we’ve spoken to are concerned that some of these chemicals may be seeping into the foundation or sheet rock of the property, which they believe could one day return to the air. However, the EPA is slightly less convinced of these theories.”
NMDC will hire an environmental consultant specializing in hazardous substance site
assessments. The Committee will work with all of the municipalities that have probable brownfields sites to increase awareness of brownfields and the Brownfields Program.
“If we can reduce the stigma and bad image attached to these properties by showing and proving to people that there is no contamination then, I think that will be a success,” said Kamm. “We want to make sure that they are safe and returned to use.”
NMDC will provide information and technical assistance needed to aid the landowner and/or municipality in initiating a cleanup of the site(s).
NMDC will regularly solicit community input during the site inventory and selection process, as well as during the assessment and reporting phases.
“We should know sometime around May or June of this year. Again, the EPA receives over 800 applications, so it’s hard to look ahead, but if we were to get the grant work will begin in October of the same year, and it’s scheduled as a three-year grant period. Our intention, however, is to convert that into an 18-24 month time frame,” said Kamm.
The next NMDC board meeting will take place on Thursday, March 13, at 3 p.m.
