Residents of Orrington will hold a town vote next month to decide whether they agree with their selectmen on a controversial clean-up plan for one of the most polluted and hazardous waste sites in the state. Selectmen have unanimously supported a plan put forth by Mallinckrodt, the Company responsible for cleaning up the 235-acre site, contaminated with the heavy metal mercury and other toxic, cancer-causing chemicals since the 1970s. The issue has divided residents, some of whom are fearful that the company wields too much power over local officials.

It's a dilemma complicated by the realities of a sluggish economy and the degree of contamination at the site of the former chlor-alkalai plant that produced chlorine, caustic soda and sulfuric acid for papermaking. Residents want to know how they can stop half a pound of mercury from leaking into the Penobscot River every year. How can five hazardous waste dumps be safely cleaned up? And how can they be sure that the company responsible won't get absorbed by another company or walk away?

"Mallinckrodt's two predecessor companies have conveniently gone bankrupt and left town and it could easily use its considerable legal talent to find ways to avoid complete clean-up if that becomes necessary," says Richard Judd, one of several residents who petitioned the town to vote on the clean-up question, which was the subject of a public meeting last night.

While Judd and some other residents favor a proposed clean-up solution backed by the Department of Environmental Protection, Orrington Town Manager Paul White said selectmen have weighed reams of information and are comfortable with a different option, the one supported by Mallinckrodt and the consultant that it hired. "Based on the information presented to the board of selectmen, they are supporting the Woodard and Curran option."

The Woodard and Curran option calls for removing the most hazardous of the five landfills and doing on-site remediation at a cost of $94 million. But the commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection says that is not as protective of public health and the environment as the solution that he has proposed: complete removal of all five waste dumps at a cost of more than $200-million.

Resident Laura Bouzan questioned why the board would support the company's position over the DEP's. "I look at the DEP and the state of Maine as protecting my interest as a citizen and the interests of all of us. "Why are we deciding that the DEP knows less than the company?"

Town officials say they were impressed by Mallinckrodt's presentations over the past few months and became convinced that the "dig and haul" remedy proposed by the DEP would take much longer to implement. They also worried that it would create a mercury air emission hazard, even though Mallinckrodt's solution also proposes to excavate the most hazardous of the landfills.

Selectman chair Howard Grover says the fact that Mallinckrodt might litigate over other suggested remedies was also a factor. "If this is drug out in court it's going be another ten years with nothing being done, and they're willing to step up to the plate, give us a real good plan that we felt was presented very well and pay for this and get started so that the river will be cleaned up one of the first things."

"I think they sold their votes myself," says Orrington resident Tim Conmee. He says even the town manager has testified that support for the Woodard and Curran option was contingent on development of a business park on the former site. "I think Mallinckrodt put the full court press on. It's a very conservative community, pro-business."

Town manager Paul White says the the board's support for Mallinckrodt is based soley on what is important for the residents, the river and the future of the site and that there've been no in-depth discussions about a business park.

Whatever happens with the town vote, company spokeswoman Joanna Schooler points out that a final decision about any remedy rests with the members of the state Board of Environmental Protection, which does factor community sentiment in its decision.

But she acknowledges that Mallinckrodt has not been shy about public relations in Orrington. "We have tried to work very closely, and continue to work very closely, with the local townspeople. We find that the more that people understand the details of our alternatives that people come to understand why our option is the best option as we move ahead."

"Clearly, state government doesn't have the resources that a ten billion dollar company has," says David Littell, commissioner of Maine's DEP. "And with the cost of the remedy that we've ordered estimated at between $200 million and $250 million, they have incentive to spend money to get a lower remedy, and that's the reality of what we're dealing with up there."

Littell says he is still trying to schedule an informational session with townspeople similar to one already provided to Mallinckrodt. A decision from the state board of environmental protection is not expected until June or July.