CORINTH — A second round of federal funding has found its way to Corinth so that the Environmental Protection Agency can continue fueling the clean up of the abandoned Pike Hill Copper Mine.

Roughly $1 billion from the federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will jumpstart new cleanup projects at 22 hazardous sites across the country, and speed up the process at some projects, including at Pike Hill, that are already underway. The EPA completed its public comment process for the project at Pike Hill last September, and will be conducting studies at the site this summer as the agency continues to craft its cleanup plan.

“Just a few years ago, this project would likely have experienced delays due to the backlog (of) sites awaiting cleanup funding. Thanks to the funding provided by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, EPA can focus on hiring a contractor and performing the cleanup of this site once the design is complete,” Bryan Olson, EPA New England Superfund and Emergency Management Division Director, said in a statement to the Valley News.

“This funding also allows EPA to better coordinate with the project stakeholders knowing that the funding is available, and there is more certainty regarding the implementation of the cleanup.”

In 2004, the abandoned copper mine off Richardson Road was listed as a Superfund site, a designation reserved only for the most hazardous polluted areas in the country. The EPA, previously cash-strapped and overloaded, now can continue work at the site after having to delay action for almost a decade.

Sulfuric acid leaching from the mine tailings has contaminated Pike Hill Brook, which empties into the Waits River. But crafting the cleanup plan is made tricky by an endangered species of bat, which has made its home in the mine’s abandoned shafts, and residents concerned about the impact of heavy truckloads of material for the project carted over Richardson Road.

“We’re looking at using material on site to minimize the traffic from the trucks, but we want to do so in a way that doesn’t impact that bats that are living on the site,” EPA Remedial Project Manager Ed Hathaway said. Set to be completed this summer, the design is still in its beginning phases. The budget — currently estimated to fall between $18 million and $20 million — is subject to change.

The federal government is responsible for the entire cost of the project. Continued investment from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law,
gives us certainty that we can go from design right into contracting,” Hathaway said.

The Orange County Copper Belt, a 20-mile stretch of mining sites that extends from South Strafford and up into Corinth, ends at Pike Hill. The chain also includes the Elizabeth Mine in Strafford and the Ely Mine in Vershire.

The cleanup at Elizabeth Mine largely wrapped up last summer, and the design for the Ely Mine project has been completed since 2020. Funding shortages have stalled work at the site, but the effort could be underway by the summer of 2024, Hathaway said.

Frances Mize is a Report for America corps member. She can be reached at fmize@vnews.com or 603-727-3242.

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