All News Releases By Date

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

Release Date: 06/09/2006
Contact Information: Dale Kemery, (202) 564-4355 / [email protected]

(Washington, D.C. - June 8, 2006) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has updated its website to include the results from additional samples collected at the Murphy Oil Site in New Orleans. Acting on a mission assignment from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, 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 a continuing assessment of contamination levels at residential and other sites. Ten percent of the samples Murphy collects are split between Murphy and EPA, which sends the split samples for independent analysis. So far, Murphy has collected 8008 sediment samples from 4789 properties. EPA has sent 834 split samples for separate analysis. EPA has received, evaluated and posted the results of the first 823 samples.

Additional soil samples are taken after cleanup at each property to confirm that the 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, which then sends the split samples for independent analysis. Thus far, EPA has sent 38 split samples for separate analyses. EPA has received, evaluated and posted the results of 32 of these samples. The levels of compounds detected in the samples were below their respective RECAP standards.

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