Oil Site Cleanup Underway In Indianapolis

The Environmental Protection Agency recently started cleanup of an abandoned oil site on the southwest side of Indianapolis.

From the 1950s to the 1980s the site, in the 2300 block of S. Tibbs Ave., was an oil collection business, then owned for a few years by a hazardous material contractor until it was abandoned for 25 years.

EPA coordinator Shelly Lam says the cleanup happens in phases.

"We test the soil. We test what's in the tanks. When we arrived there were six tanks, two were empty, the other four still have some kind of waste in them," says Lam. 

This site’s cleanup is covered by Superfund funding but not on the National Priority List. Indiana has 49 Superfund sites on that list.

The contamination was identified by Indiana’s Department of Environmental Management in the early 2000s but the property owner wouldn’t allow access to the site.  Lam says contaminants at the site are hazardous.

"Things like lead, PCBs, pesticides, solvents like TCE in the soil," says Lam. "There is a threat to public health because of this sitting here abandoned."

Over the next month, the EPA will test soil to determine how much to remove and replace. The site could then be available for redevelopment.