Sanborn Pond; Brooks, Maine

Brooks, Maine | 2001-Sep-27

Initial Notification: Early morning of September 24, 2001, a tanker truck owned by the H.O. Bouchard Company of Maine (no connection to the New York shipping company) drove off highway 137, north of Brooks, Maine (44? 28.96N 069? 08.70W) and rolled into Sanborn Pond. The tank truck destroyed a maple tree and a summer cottage, the guard rail ripped into the side of the tank and approximately 5,500 gallons of heated number 6 oil flowed into the pond. Sanborn Pond is an 87 acre, freshwater pond connected to Dutton Pond to the north and a small stream to the south. There is a dam at the south end, restricting all but a small amount of flow through to the stream. The shoreline is typical of Maine ponds during time of low water (Maine has received very little rain this summer, therefore the lakes and pond are one to two feet below their normal level) bedrock, mixed boulder/cobble, and emergent vegetation. This pond also has a short section of riprap (along the highway) and of sand (in front of the destroyed cottage, likely installed by the owner). USCG district 1.