| A lot of questions about the old Eagle Pitcher smelter site should be put to rest next month. Representatives from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality (ODEQ) are coming to Henryetta. They will be participating in a public forum and visiting with individual residents about the site and ensuing cleanup some 19 years ago. The meeting will take place at the Henryetta civic center Aug. 25 at 6:30 p.m. |
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| City manager Ted Graham said staff members from both agencies will be discussing the history of the cleanup that started in 1996. "We want to dispel the rumors of the Shurden-Leist industrial park and give out all the facts as we know them today," he said. Graham pointed out that, over the years, a lot of rumors have been spread and some of them have been taken as facts. "We have our EPA/ODEQ certificate. That means the industrial park is acceptable to develop for industrial and commercial building. Both agencies will be talking to local residents in a group and conducting one-on-one visits with individuals during the evening. |
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| "Our goal is to give everyone the information that is factual and get our park back to being a property that we want to develop and have for the future of Henryetta." The site covers some 71 acres of the old Eagle Pitcher and Victory Metals smelters. For 52 years lead, zinc, cadmium and other heavy metals had been processed there. When the operations closed in 1968, huge mounds of waste products covered much of the site. Water runoff from those waste products were said to have washed into the Coal Creek watershed. The city took ownership of the site in 1974 but it was not until 1996 that cleanup operations began. |
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| The Superfund program resulted in nearly $8.5 million spent in cleanup efforts. Contaminated waste products were consolidated into an eight-acre corner of the site. Those materials were covered with an 18-inch clay cap then another nearly two feet of topsoil placed over that. The rest of the site was covered with clean topsoil and designated for industrial development. Two companies have located there and are in operation. This past year, the Eastern Oklahoma Family Health Center applied for a grant to build a 17,000 square-foot facility at the site. |
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| Key to that approval was the certificate from the EPA that would allow such a facility to be built there. That certificate was approved a number of years ago but never released to the city until this past spring. Because that project has raised some questions about suspected health issues at the site, the public hearing was planned. "I think this will assist everyone with being able to discuss the project and site and dispel any rumor, story, or concern that anyone may have," Graham said. He encouraged everyone to come to the meeting and learn about the cleanup and continuing management of the site. The meeting will be streamed live by Thehenryettan.com and interviews will be conducted with EPA and ODEQ personnel about the site and the cleanup effort. |
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