Deal near to develop site contaminated by waste oil

SUGAR CREEK, Mo. -- Talks are under way to turn an oil-contaminated site that for decades has been the center of controversy into a new business development.

Officials of Sugar Creek and BP Amoco PLC say they are close to an agreement to develop the old Amoco refinery. The proposed deal would require BP, which owned the refinery, to give the city millions of dollars in cash and infrastructure improvements.

Mayor Stan Salva said the city council would review the proposed agreement today, with details worked out in the coming weeks.

"It's going to be quite an exciting thing for our city," Salva said. "We want to give people something to talk about other than the cancer scare."

The old refinery has oozed pollution for decades, raising health concerns among many of Sugar Creek's 4,000 residents.

Recent health studies conducted by the state have found that brain cancer rates in the immediate area of the refinery did not appear elevated. Federal officials also are studying the incidence of multiple sclerosis in the Sugar Creek area.

Environmental regulators said the pollution on and off the refinery site still must be cleaned up, but that development of the surface land might be possible.

Sugar Creek officials have visited another Amoco property in Casper, Wyo., where the company agreed to build a park and make other improvements at a former refinery. City officials also went to Denver, where a contaminated railroad site is being developed.

Some skeptical

Some people who live near the former Sugar Creek refinery, however, don't expect the site to be developed.

"I don't see much chance it will happen," said Bill Haman, one of the leaders of Cleanup, a group that has pushed for swifter action to rid the site of pollution.

Haman also is skeptical that BP will provide the city enough money or build sufficient streets and infrastructure to create a viable development.

"Amoco just doesn't want to get that involved," he said.

City officials, however, are optimistic that the area -- dubbed the Bluffs at Sugar Creek -- could become a 120-acre business park that brings hundreds of jobs and possibly even a community center.

Lloyd Dunlap, who is overseeing the Amoco project for BP, declined to comment on specifics of the agreement, except to say that he hoped negotiations would be completed soon.

"The cleanup (of underground contamination) doesn't have to stop the plans for reuse," Dunlap said.

Groundwater about 10 to 20 feet below the redevelopment site is contaminated by high levels of oil and its additives, including chemicals known to cause cancer.

Yet cleanup of the groundwater might be able to proceed with construction and operation of a business development, said Brian McCurren of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.

Environmental regulators, however, will not be able to assess the development plan completely until they see details, including buildings and the location of sewers and roads, McCurren said.