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EPA Posts Results of Additional Samples Taken at the Murphy Oil Site

Release Date: 03/17/2006
Contact Information: Dale Kemery, (202) 564-4355 / [email protected]

(03/17/06) On March 17, EPA updated its website to include the results from additional samples collected at the Murphy Oil Site.  Pursuant to a FEMA mission assignment, US EPA is overseeing Murphy Oil's ongoing sampling activities of residential and other properties.  Today EPA posted samples taken as part of two ongoing efforts.

The first set of samples relates to ongoing activities to assess the level of contamination at residential and other sites.  Ten percent of the samples Murphy collects are split between Murphy and EPA.  EPA sends the split samples for independent analysis.  Thus far, Murphy has collected 7230 sediment samples from 4271 properties.  Of the 7230 sediment samples collected, US EPA has sent 748 split samples for separate analyses.  US EPA has received, evaluated and is posting the results of the first 722 samples. 

Additional soil samples are taken after cleanup at each property to confirm that Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality's Risk Evaluation/Corrective Action Program (RECAP) Standards have been met.  Ten percent of the confirmatory samples Murphy collects are split between Murphy and EPA.  EPA sends the split samples for independent analysis.  Thus far, US EPA has sent 15 split samples for separate analyses.  US EPA has received, evaluated and is posting the results of these 15 samples.  The levels of compounds detected in the samples were below their respective RECAP standards. 

More information on results: epa.gov/katrina/testresults/murphy