Boston Globe: Portland Fails To Fix Sea Terminal. $1.2M Clean Up Falls Short

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Portland Fails to Fix Sea Terminal

$1.2m Cleanup Falls Short; Woes at Facility Have Cost Area's Economy Millions

By Tom Nugent, Globe Correspondent | March 18, 2006

PORTLAND, Maine -- One year after a federal agency found that structural

defects contributed to mold-related illnesses at Portland's International Marine

Terminal, the agency is about to report that the city's $1.2 million effort

to eliminate health hazards at the site failed.

The 97-year-old waterfront complex remains closed, costing the region's

economy millions of dollars in tourism revenue, according to city and tourism

officials.

The report by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health will

be released within two weeks, according to Dr. Elena H. Page, who supervised

a three-day inspection of the terminal last March after about 20

terminal-based employees at Scotia Prince Cruises and the Portland office of

the US

Customs and Border Protection agency complained toxic mold had made them sick.

Meanwhile, the city has entered into arbitration in a $40 million lawsuit

brought by a former Portland-based United States-to-Canada ferry line that says

it was forced to leave the terminal and close its operations because of the

mold.

Federal inspectors concluded that the terminal shows ''residual fungal

contamination " and that structural problems in the roof will encourage

''continued

microbial growth. " They also found that complaints of respiratory illness

from toxic mold are ''consistent with exposure to a building with such

extensive water damage and microbial contamination. "

Although city officials said they spent more than $1.2 million on remediation

before the federal inspection team arrived, City Attorney Wood said the

city has not been in contact with the National Institute for Occupational

Safety and Health since.

Wood also said the city was unaware the federal agency issued an interim

report last October, even though it was addressed to Portland City Manager

ph Gray Jr. That report's numerous recommendations for preventing toxic mold

will appear in the final version, federal officials said.

The city contends that it eliminated the toxic mold problem soon after Scotia

Prince Cruises complained that a dozen of its workers were suffering from

symptoms of mold-related illness, including severe headaches, dizziness, muscle

cramps, blurred vision, and inability to concentrate.

City officials say they eliminated water leakage and mold from the terminal

before the federal inspection team arrived. Federal investigators disagreed.

''We saw patches of blue sky through the holes in the roof, and water fell on

our heads, " said industrial hygienist Burton, an investigator for

the agency's hazard evaluations and technical assistance branch. ''The word

'leak' isn't really accurate to describe the condition of the building. "

City officials also contend that the cruise operators complained about

mold-related illness to escape their lease, since the 480-foot ferry to Nova

Scotia had been losing passengers in recent years.

''The city has made it clear that the Scotia Prince was not forced out of

business due to any problems with the facility, " said attorney Kayatta,

who is representing the city in the arbitration. ''The city is also seeking

recovery in the arbitration for damages caused by Scotia Prince in violation

of its lease. "

Scotia Prince Cruises president Mark Hudson said it told city officials it

would not operate the ferry from the terminal unless it was made safe. ''The

remediation was ineffective and so we were forced to cancel the 2005 season, "

he said. As a result, the city terminated the Scotia Prince lease ''and

destroyed our business, " Hudson said. ''We're now seeking reimbursement for the

financial damage we suffered. "

During the period that Scotia Prince employees said they had become ill,

several employees of the Customs and Border Protection unit stationed at the

terminal reported similar symptoms. Shortly afterward, the customs operation was

moved downtown. Customs ''was aware that there were complaints about mold and

they did everything necessary to make sure of the health and safety of their

employees, " said a spokesman, Ted Woo.

Captain W. Monroe, the city's ports and transportation director, said

Portland ''took a financial hit " when Scotia Prince left. ''We lost $400,000

a year in fees, " he said, ''which is about 20 percent of our total yearly

income from that source. And losing the tourist traffic didn't help the local

economy any, either. "

But Monroe said he is confident most of the losses will be made up when a

new, faster catamaran ferry operated by Bay Ferries Ltd. begins

three-times-a-week service to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, in late May.

Mark Mac, chief executive at Bay Ferries, said he is not aware of the

about-to-be-released report by the federal agency on structural problems at

the terminal, where the catamaran will dock.

''The City of Portland has given us assurances in our [two-year] lease that

the terminal does not contain any health hazards, " Mac said.