Double Eagle Refinery Superfund Site

• Location: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma County, Oklahoma
• Township and Range: SE 1/4 Section 35, Township 12N, Range 3W; and SW 1/4 Section 36, Township 12N, Range 3W
• Latitude/Longitude: 35.46763056, -97.47736667
• Site Type: Abandoned Refinery
• Area: 0.019 square miles/12 acres
• National Priorities List: Final Deletion Date - August 21, 2008
• Current Status: Cleanup complete

• Cleanup Oversight Agencies: DEQ and EPA
• Lead Agency: DEQ
• Office: DEQ, Land Protection Division, (405) 702-5100
• DEQ Site Project Manager: Makenna Hartman, (405) 702-5159
• DEQ Press Contact: Skylar McElhaney, (405) 702-7167

The Double Eagle Site is located southwest of the Fourth Street Abandoned Refinery Superfund Site.  The site recycled used motor oil into finished lubricating oil.  The refinery was active as early as 1929.  Generally, early refining was conducted on the western portion of the site and expanded toward the eastern portion as the operations increased.  The Double Eagle site recycled approximately 500,000 to 600,000 gallons of used motor oil per month.  The recycling process used sulfuric acid (H₂SO₄) and bleaching clays to separate the desired oil product from the heavy tars.  The process generated roughly 80,000 gallons of corrosive and toxic sludge each month.  Initially, contaminated sludges were sent to an off-site disposal facility, now the Hardage-Criner Superfund Site located in Criner, Oklahoma.  Sludges were later disposed of in on-site impoundments and a sludge lagoon until the late 1960s to early 1970s.  Double Eagle continued to accept waste oil for storage in on-site storage tanks until 1980.

The major components of the Double Eagle Source Control Selected Remedy included:

• Excavation of the contaminated material in the Radio Tower Area
• Combining of contaminated Radio Tower and Double Eagle material
• On-site stabilization of 44,000 cubic yards of the consolidated material to remove the hazardous characteristics of the contaminants, used lime, and kiln dust
• Disposal of the stabilized material in the permitted, East Oak Landfill (OKC)
• Demolition of on-site structures (nine buildings & 59 tanks) and disposal of the asbestos insulation at an approved landfill

• The cleanup was completed in 2000, which protects approximately 32,000 people living within three miles of the site
• The site was deleted from the National Priorities List in August 2008

A pit onsite had such a low pH (less than 2.5) that objects thrown into it would eventually dissolve and disappear.

A deed notice was filed to notify land owners of the hazards associated with the contaminated groundwater in the area.  The deed notice also restricted land to commerical/industrial uses and prohibited groundwater use.

• Sources of Contamination: Prior to the cleanup, the Double Eagle Site contained a sludge lagoon, six similar earthen impoundments, 13 steel buildings, one fire tube boiler, two pipe heat exchangers, five vacuum pre-coat/scrapper filters, two concrete settling cells, and about 100 steel tanks of various sizes.  The tanks contained residual sludge, and most equipment was contaminated to various degrees.  One of the concrete cells contained residual waste material mixed with rainwater.  The Double Eagle Site contributed to off-site contamination in an area just south of the site, known as the "Radio Tower Area".  The contamination at the Radio Tower Area consisted of a tar matrix, which covered approximately 0.25 acres.

• Contaminants of Concern: Lead, acid, BTEX (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene), and Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs)

• Media Affected: The property was contamined with metals and organic contaminants in the soil, sediments, and groundwater.  The site also contained acid sludge found in on-site lagoons and pits.

• Groundwater Impacted: Both the Double Eagle and Fourth Street Superfund Sites contribute to groundwater contamination of the Garber Sandstone Formation (non-potable shallow aquifer), with brine (high levels of sodium, total dissolved solids, and chlorides).  The deed notice prohibits the use of groundwater.