Environmental Law

Dartmouth Toxic Metals Superfund Research Program and the Callahan Mine Superfund Site

By Walter James

Here is a guest post from Brian Jenkins at BrainTrack.

The Dartmouth Toxic Metals Superfund Research Program, made up of scientists and graduate students from Dartmouth college and Dartmouth Medical School, investigates the effects of heavy metals on human and environmental health. Members of the program are currently working with the Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory to study the effects of toxic metals on plant and animal life at the Callahan Mine Superfund site situated in Brooksville, Maine. Copper concentrations at the mine site are the highest in New England, and this heavy metal has been leaching into the local cove.

The Callahan Mining Company performed extensive mining at the site during the late 1960s and early 1970s, extracting rock containing copper, lead, zinc, and traces of silver from the open pit site. Approximately five million tons of waste rock containing contaminants was also removed from the mine and placed on the site.

The study is being conducted before, during, and after EPA's remediation work at the site. Members of the Dartmouth program will also monitor the success of EPA's cleanup efforts. EPA plans to begin phase one of the cleanup this spring.

The study places an emphasis on the effects copper has on the Killifish, a small species of fish that lives in nearby Goose Cove. Charles Wray, a staff scientist at the Mount Desert Island Biological Lab, stated, "the findings could provide valuable information about the effect of toxic metals on humans." He went on to say, "We have an opportunity to understand how copper is interacting on a whole population and we'll be able to transfer that information on how copper toxicity interacts in humans."

Bruce Stanton, Ph.D, Director of Dartmouth Toxic Metals Superfund Research Program, is working on the molecular level, evaluating how the copper interacts with proteins in molecules. The team of researchers are also looking to see if high concentrations of copper at the Callahan mine site have altered the DNA of fish in the adjacent waters of Goose Cove.

If you want to learn more about this and other Dartmouth Toxic Metals Superfund Research Program initiatives, visit the Program's website.

Brian Jenkins, a BrainTrack.com staff writer, contributes feature articles about a variety of different college and career-related topics.

Full post as published by Environmental Crimes Blog on March 31, 2011 (boomark / email).