WESTERLY, R.I. (WPRI) — Bidding has wrapped up on the now-vacant Bradford Printing and Finishing site in Westerly.

While the final price tag for the site is not yet known, the final bids were over $900,000, which is three times more than what the property originally sold for in 2019.

The mill was once home to a roughly century-old military jacket manufacturer that went bankrupt in 2012 after several fires.

According to a report from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency at the time, hundreds of dangerous chemicals were removed from the mill shortly after, but the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management said other chemicals remain.

In an email to Target 12 Wednesday, spokesperson Kim Keough confirmed there are abandoned underground gasoline storage tanks that need to be registered and removed, but the site also contains PFAS, lead, arsenic and mercury.

A 2023 draft report from the organization found the mill's groundwater had some of the highest levels of PFAS in the state.

In 2019, land records reveal Rockingham Estate LLC purchased the property for $300,000. Garfield Spencer, one of the owners of the mill, has not said why the property is being auctioned off.

Several other local environmental groups have been asking for the EPA to fast track the clean up process of the mill.

Dr. Catie Alves, Save the Bay's South County coast keeper, said in October that the mill's contaminants pose an ongoing risk, especially since it's adjacent to the Pawcatuck River.

"The Department of Health found PFAS in the fish tissue, both in the lagoons and the river," she said. "These are gross substances that we don't want to interact with people and we don't want it to interact with the environment."

James Anderson, a spokesperson for EPA's New England regional office wrote in a statement that the sale will not impact its active review of the property and it "will work with the new owner to require access to gather environmental information as part of the listing process."