Double Eagle Refinery Co. and 

Fourth Street Abandoned Refinery 

Superfund Sites 

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 

Responsiveness Summary 

July 30, 2008 

This Responsiveness Summary is divided into the following sections: 

Section I. Overview – The Overview Section discusses the purpose of the public 

comment period and summarizes the proposed action. 

Section II. Summary of Comments – This section briefly summarizes the public’s 

comments and provides EPA’s responses. 

I. OVERVIEW

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has prepared this 

Responsiveness Summary for the Double Eagle Refinery Co. and the Fourth Street 

Abandoned Refinery Superfund Sites, as part of the process for making a final deletion 

decision. This Responsiveness Summary documents, for the deletion docket, comments 

rose during the public comment period on EPA's Direct Notices of Intent to Delete these 

sites. 

EPA's decisions to delete these sites are detailed in the Notices of Intent to Delete dated 

June 13, 2008, published on the Federal Register at 73 FR 33760 and 73 FR 33758. 

Pursuant to Section 117 of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, 

and Liability Act (CERCLA), 42 U.S.C. § 9617, EPA has considered all comments 

received during the public comment period in making the final decisions contained now 

in the final Notices of Deletion to be published in the Federal Register. This 

Responsiveness Summary is part of the deletion docket. 

EPA uses the Federal Register to convey Notices of Deletion to the public, since it is the 

official daily publication for rules, proposed rules, and other notices of Federal 

Departments and Agencies and organizations, as well other government documents. 

Regulations.gov is updated daily by the National Archives and Records Administration 

using electronic versions of the same Federal Register documents printed every business 

day to ensure that regulations open for comment are available for public access. 

The EPA published the notices announcing the intent to delete these sites in the Federal 

Register on June 13, 2008 (73 FR 33760 and 73 FR 33758) and announced a 30-day 

public comment period. All comments were required to be received by July 14, 2008. 

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EPA also published a notice in a major local newspaper of general circulation, The Daily 

Oklahoman, announcing that the Notices of Intent to Delete were published on June 13, 

2008 in the Federal Register and that the public comment period would end on July 14, 

2008. Documents containing factual information, data and analysis forming the basis for 

the decision to delete the sites were provided in the Administrative Records available 

electronically and at the EPA Region 6 Office in Dallas, Texas, the Oklahoma 

Department of Environmental Quality in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and the local 

repository located at the Ralph Ellison Library in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Publicly 

available docket materials are available electronically at http:www.regulations.gov 

Docket ID EPA-HQ-SFUND-1989-0008, including the Second Combined Five-Year 

Review Report for Double Eagle and Fourth Street Abandoned Refinery Sites, Document 

ID EP-HQ-SFUND-1989-0008-0063, 

II. SUMMARY OF COMMENTS

Written comments were received from one individual via e-mail: 

The commenter questioned how EPA can claim there is no significant threat to public 

health or the environment, and why the sites are considered non-controversial. He quotes 

that many contaminants were mentioned at an Internet website that he visited. 

Response:

Information concerning the Double Eagle and Fourth Street Sites submitted by the 

commenter appears to be outdated. The following information, excerpted from the 

Second Five Year Review Report dated May 2007 

(http://www.epa.gov/earth1r6/6sf/pdffiles/double_eagle_fourth_street_5yr_review.pdf), 

summarizes more recent site actions. 

[quoting from the “Remedy Implementation” section, pp. 21-24] 

Remediation of the Source Control Operable Units 

The Remedial action at the Double Eagle Abandoned Refinery was performed between 

August 1997 and March 2000. The action involved asbestos abatement and demolition of 

existing structures at the Double Eagle site, which consisted of nine buildings and 59 

tanks. Contaminated waste material was neutralized and stabilized. A total of 44,186 

cubic yards of treated waste and contaminated waste material exceeding the remedial 

action goals (RAGs) were transported and disposed off-site at the East Oak Landfill in 

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, which was permitted to accept these wastes. 

The Remedial Action at the Fourth Street site was performed between March 1995 and 

April 1996. The action consisted of on-site neutralization and stabilization of wastes 

containing lead and/or acid exceeding the RAGs. A total of 91,200 tons of the treated 

waste materials were transported and disposed of off-site at the East Oak Landfill in 

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Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. This action also included the restoration of areas affected by 

remedial activities and cleaning and disposing of contaminated equipment and structures. 

Remediation of the Ground Water Operable Unit 

The Ground Water Operable Unit Remedial Action for the two sites was combined since 

they share one ground water contaminant plume. 

During Phase I of the remedial action borings were advanced, piezometers were installed 

and a production well that existed on the Double Eagle property was plugged and 

abandoned. During Phase II additional monitoring wells were installed to create a 

monitoring well network. The Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality 

conducted quarterly ground water monitoring activities between December1996 and 

April 2000. Semi-annual sampling occurred between September 2000 and September 

2003. The investigations that were performed have shown that natural attenuation is 

taking place, the potential receptors of targets of contamination, the North Canadian 

River, and deeper usable portions of the Garber-Wellington aquifer, are not at risk at this 

time. Hence, in 2005, the ODEQ and EPA determined that future monitoring of the 

ground water of the sites was not warranted. 

As shown in the Second Five Year Review Report, hazardous substances present on the 

Sites when they were placed on the National Priorities List (NPL) have been addressed in 

removal and remedial actions conducted over the last several years. Sites are deleted 

from the NPL when no further action is appropriate – after construction completion and 

verification that the cleanup goals have in fact been met. 

Most recently, in May of 2008, EPA issued an Explanation of Significant Differences 

that clarifies the clean closure of these sites as an action level protective for industrial or 

commercial land uses, but not to levels allowing for unlimited use and unrestricted 

exposure. Therefore, there was a need to implement Institutional Controls and Five-Year 

Reviews. At sites such as these, where hazardous substances are left in place at levels 

above those allowing for unlimited use and unrestricted exposure, EPA conducts five 

year reviews to verify that the response actions remain protective of human health and the 

environment. While there are opportunities for public input in the five year review 

process, as well as other EPA actions, neither of these sites have generated substantial 

concerns, comments, or inquiries in recent years. 

 

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