The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is reporting progress on cleanups at two of Maine’s Superfund hazardous waste sites in periodic reviews done this year. 

The agency conducted its fourth five-year review for the Eastern Surplus site on Meddybemps Lake and Passamaquoddy tribal land in Downeast Maine, and the second five-year review for the coastal Callahan Mining Corporation site on Penobscot Bay. 

Eastern Surplus is a former storage and salvage yard that contaminated area groundwater and infringed on Passamaquoddy tribal artifacts dating back thousands of years.

The state and EPA began full-scale treatment of contaminated groundwater at the site in 2018. The new EPA report says sampling shows the method is working as intended and will continue. They also note the long-sought transfer of part of the site to Passamaquoddy ownership earlier this year.

The EPA says it will test the site for newer, less regulated contaminants — 1,4 dioxane and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, also known as PFAS or “forever chemicals” — by next fall. 

The Callahan Mine site was an open-pit zinc and copper mine in the drained Goose Pond estuary on Cape Rosier, in the Hancock County town of Brooksville. The mine operated from about 1968 to 1972 and left behind arsenic, lead, PCBs and other hazardous substances.

The state finished treating part of the site several years ago, and the EPA says contractors made progress on stabilizing and covering another contaminated area this year. They also finalized a deed for the site that prevents certain uses that could threaten human health. 

Callahan was one of 49 chronically under-funded Superfunds that the Biden administration said recently it would target for an early boost of funding from the recently passed infrastructure bill. 

Maine is home to 16 Superfunds in total, including Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and the former Brunswick and Loring military bases. Six of the sites are in Cumberland and York Counties.