By LEANNE M. ROBICHEAU
WARREN, Me., Oct. 19, 2000 (Bangor Daily News)—Two environmental groups and the Warren Sanitary District have reached an agreement which could resolve a pending federal lawsuit and state Department of Environmental Protection appeals when the deal is completed.
Georges River Tidewater Association, the Natural Resources Council of Maine and 22 residents filed a federal lawsuit in March, claiming the sanitary district was in violation of the Clean Water Act.
A Board of Environmental Protection hearing scheduled for today on these issues has been canceled.
In May, the environmental groups and the town of Thomaston appealed the issuing of a DEP license to the Warren sewage plant which greatly increased the amount of effluent it can discharge into the St. George River. Thomaston also has an appeal involving the granting of a site location permit to the Department of Corrections for the expansion of the Maine Correctional Institution, also known as the Supermax prison, located in Warren. Thomaston claims the increased sewage from the prison would adversely affect the river, which the town spent $12 million to clean up by building a new lagoon system, located away from the waterfront.
Neither party Wednesday would discuss the details of the "agreement in principle" which could resolve the disputes.
Portland attorneys Sean Mahoney, who represents GRTA and NRCM, and Jared S. des Rosiers, who is counsel for the sanitary district, declined comment Wednesday, noting that the agreement had yet to be finalized and signed.
Once both sides complete negotiations, Mahoney indicated that the terms of the agreement would be made public.
According to des Rosiers, the final deal will call for DEP to issue a new license to the sanitary district.
DEP spokesman Michael Barden said Wednesday that the sanitary district would submit an amendment to its current license to incorporate the terms of the agreement, which would ultimately go before the public for review.
Once the agreement is completed, Thomaston can decide if it still wants to pursue the appeals, Barden said.
The sanitary district was licensed to release up to 151,000 gallons of treated effluent per day, but was only discharging about 60,000 gallons daily. The new license allows it to release up to 100,000 gallons per day from June 1 to Sept. 30 and 234,000 gallons daily between Oct. 1 and May 31. The plant would have had to establish a holding tank for use in the summer months to handle the prison's wastewater. The 866-bed Supermax expansion is targeted for completion in November 2001. The Supermax now has 100 beds.
DEP officials had said that the increased discharge by the Warren plant would have no measurable effect on the water quality of the river and had indicated with modeling results that the plant is not the source of the pollution problem in the river.
Thomaston had proposed building a $2 million pipe line to its plant so it could treat the waste from the Warren prison during the summer months when the sanitary district's discharge was limited.
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