<html><div style='background-color:'><SPAN class=storyheadline><FONT face=Arial size=4><STRONG>Pawnee County site may be eligible for Superfund <BR>11-05-05<BR></STRONG></FONT></SPAN><STRONG><FONT size=1><SPAN id=article_author>By Chad Previch</SPAN><BR></FONT><EM><FONT size=1><SPAN id=article_source>The Oklahoman</SPAN><BR><BR></FONT></EM></STRONG><SPAN class=storytext><FONT face=Arial>TERLTON — Investigators are running environmental tests and the state intends to shut down a family’s drinking water after hazardous chemicals were found in rural Pawnee County. </FONT>
<P>Environmental authorities say the area could become Oklahoma’s 11th active Superfund site.
<P>Environmental quality agents initially investigated in July when thieves stole a trailer owned by Black Star Performance Engineering, an auto repair and paint shop. Thieves shoved up to 30 barrels of chemicals from the trailer, breaking open four 55-gallon drums that dumped cleaning solvents.
<P>Investigators found traces of a cleaning solvent, dichlorobenzene, in water wells but were alarmed at also finding a neighbor’s well contained up to 14 times more dichloroethene than considered safe by the Environmental Protection Agency.
<P>“You’re not going to immediately die from drinking it, but we think it has the potential for health effects,” said Monty Elder, spokeswoman for the state Department of Environmental Quality, referring to the dichloroethene. “We do not know the extent ... of this problem.”
<P>Investigators are uncertain whether the dichloroethene came from Black Star Performance Engineering. After the spill in July, Department of Environmental Quality employees told Black Star to clean the area, but the company did not comply, Elder said. She said Black Star could be fined.
<P>Another chemical spill was discovered Thursday by the department. In that case, thieves stole a car on Black Star’s lot and tipped over two barrels containing chemicals. DEQ is testing to determine what chemicals were spilled.
<P>Elder said investigators are testing soil and water to determine whether the Black Star area should become a Superfund site. It may take months for the Black Star area to get the federal designation as a Superfund site, she said.
<P>Bill Everitt who lives about 250 feet from Black Star and whose well is contaminated, said his family now carries jugs of drinking water from his son’s house across the street.
<P>“We were devastated,” he said. “We don’t know how long it’s been contaminated and we don’t know what’s going to happen to us long-term.”
<P>Pawnee Rural Water District No. 2 water operator Jon Harrod said the family’s new water service will be turned on Tuesday. Everitt said his family continues to use the contaminated water for bathing and washing clothes.
<P>“It’s a terrible chemical smell,” he said of the area. “It makes you sick and it burns your skin and your eyes. Any membranes that are open it affects.”
<P>A telephone number listed for Black Star has been disconnected.
<P>To become a Superfund site, an area must have hazardous chemicals, a pathway for exposure by land, water or air and a population to be exposed, Elder said. The largest Superfund site in the United States is Tar Creek, also in northeast Oklahoma.
<P>
<P></SPAN><BR><BR><BR></P>
<DIV>
<P>Seneca Scott</P>
<P>3271 E. 2nd St.</P>
<P>Tulsa, OK 74104</P>
<P>OKC 405-474-0324</P>
<P>Tulsa 918-576-9111</P>
<P> </P></DIV></div></html>