Maine's Department of Environmental Protection filed a formal complaint against Mallinckrodt US LLC in Penobscot County Superior Court on August 25 for failing to clean up a contaminated chemical manufacturing site along the Penobscot River.
The former Holtrachem site in Orrington contains significant contamination from mercury and chloropicrin. The facility made chemicals commonly used in the pulp and paper industry.
The DEP established cleanup standards in a 2008 designation order affirmed by state courts as recently as 2014. Despite these orders, large areas of soil at the site still exceed the required cleanup standards, according to the agency.
Remediation progress slowed beginning in 2018 and ceased entirely since 2023. The company received two notices of violation, on March 19, 2025, and October 22, 2025, detailing its failure to comply with the cleanup orders.
The DEP is seeking an injunction and civil penalties for ongoing violations.