Junk from Meddybemps spreads to Baileyville

A junkyard in Baileyville may be receiving salvage material that is being transferred from the Harry Smith Jr. junkyards in Meddybemps. According to William Butler, an environmental specialist with the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), approximately 50 open-top, 30-cubic-yard containers that were in Meddybemps are now at a Baileyville junkyard, although the DEP has not actually followed any trucks moving the material. He adds that it's alleged that hazardous waste may be mixed into the salvage being transported to Baileyville and that the waste then may be shipped across the border to a junkyard in Nova Scotia.

Butler says that two of Harry Smith's sons, Greg Smith and Tony Leavitt, may be transferring the salvage material to the Baileyville junkyard, which is on land owned by Greg Smith. "We're not sure who is licensed to operate the Baileyville junkyard," he notes. "We're checking into the legality of the transfer of the salvage."

Junkyards are regulated by municipalities, not the DEP, so unless hazardous waste is mixed in, it is difficult for the DEP to monitor the junkyards or take any enforcement action.

James Moffitt, the code enforcement officer for Baileyville and Meddybemps, says the transfer of the salvage is currently under investigation and declines to comment on the matter. He notes that there are several junkyards in Baileyville.

Butler notes that a change in the junkyard law, which will become effective in September, will give the DEP and municipalities more control over junkyards. Junkyard owners and operators will be responsible for removing mercury switches from vehicles and lawfully recycling them. He says the change in the law was prompted because many cars were being crushed at junkyards, with the improper disposal of oil, gas and mercury switches.

Butler says there is no evidence that more salvage material is being taken in at the Smith junkyards. "I've spoken with neighbors in Meddybemps, and the Smith junkyards are shut down," says Butler.

Cleanup efforts
The DEP hopes by the end of the year to clean up the remaining 100,000 tires in Smith's north, south and Cooper yards. In 1995, the DEP had counted 1.6 million tires in the junkyards.

No other cleanup efforts are currently underway at the yards, but the DEP is moving forward with an investigation of further contamination. MACTEC Engineering and Consulting Inc. of Portland has been hired by the DEP to collect samples to determine the impact on soils and the groundwater. That information will be used to determine whether any remediation is necessary, says Kathy Niziolek, project manager for remediation with the DEP. "By next spring we should know whether there are areas that need remediation." The DEP is working with the U.S. Department of Justice and the Defense Reuse and Marketing Office in coordinating the investigation. Much of the waste at the Eastern Surplus and Smith junkyard sites was military surplus purchased from the Department of Defense.

She says the department is fairly confident that all the hazardous waste has been removed, noting that during the removal efforts two years ago all of the trailers were inspected. The sites have been subject to three different environmental cleanups by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the DEP. Also, the junkyard is now closed, so no new waste is coming in. However, hazardous materials were found in June 2004 in a house next to the Eastern Surplus site that is owned by Dawn Smith, daughter of Harry Smith Jr. Niziolek notes that the DEP had not been granted access to the property until an administrative search warrant was issued.

Test wells are being installed now and will include bedrock monitoring wells to determine if there has been any contamination of aquifers. Possible contamination of Hatton Brook, which runs into the Dennys River, has also been looked at. There are two beaver impoundments on the brook, and some contaminants were found behind the first impoundment but not behind the second, so any contamination does not appear to have reached either Davis Brook or the Dennys River, according to Niziolek.

Along with the Smith junkyards in Meddybemps, the DEP is also looking at cleaning up a small junkyard just before the Cooper town line that is owned by Richard Dwelley and Isabel Barton. The department estimates that it will cost $50,000 to $70,000 to clean it up, according to Butler.

The cost for cleaning up the three hazardous waste sites owned by the Smiths has exceeded $20 million and continues to average $1 million a year. That cleanup may be only 50% complete.

Where's Harry?
In 1993 Harry Smith Jr. was sentenced to four years in prison with all but one year suspended for felony hazardous waste crimes at his junkyards. He was also ordered to serve jail time for parole violations on this previous conviction for failure to comply with a court-ordered cleanup of tires. Smith did not report to jail and has not been found to this time. He has been on the state's most wanted list for about a year.

As for Smith's whereabouts, Niziolek notes, "We only get reports secondhand, so it's kind of tough" to find him. Butler says that they believe that Smith is crossing the Canadian border and his photo is posted in U.S. Customs offices.

"He's considered a folk hero in Downeast Maine," says Butler. "We might get him if we posted a $10,000 reward. He might turn himself in for that."