Attorney General's News Release

December 13, 2005

Kerr-McGee, demolition contractor to pay $138,000 in settlement over 2004 creosote discharge in Little Sac River

Springfield, Mo. — An illegal discharge of creosote into the Little Sac River from the demolition of a wood-treating facility in Springfield in March 2004 has led to the site owner and the demolition contractor paying $138,000 to the state of Missouri and the city of Springfield.

Attorney General Jay Nixon helped negotiate the agreement between facility owner Kerr McGee Chemical, demolition contractor Hydrovac Industrial Services, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, the city of Springfield and the Attorney General's Office.

"The clean water resources of southwest Missouri are a precious commodity, and we want to protect them for future generations of Missourians," Nixon said. "This agreement appropriately addresses both the illegal discharge and the need to prevent any future such occurrences."

Kerr McGee hired Hydrovac to dismantle, decommission and demolish a wood treating facility the company owned at 2800 W. High St. in Springfield in 2003. A Department of Natural Resources investigation found that creosote, a chemical mixture used as a wood preservative, and a creosote/diesel mix were illegally discharged into the sanitary sewer lines which flow to the Northwest Wastewater Treatment Plan while Hydrovac's employees were performing the demolition of the facility on March 31, 2004. The untreated creosote and creosote/diesel fuel mixed wastewater directly discharged into the Little Sac River.

As part of the agreement, Kerr McGee and Hydrovac agreed to pay $68,000 in civil penalties; $33,414 for costs and expenses incurred by the Department of Natural Resources and the city of Springfield; and another $41,586 to the Missouri Natural Resource Protection Fund to settle claims for environmental damage caused by the spill. Kerr McGee and Hydrovac also agreed to comply with all state environmental statutes and regulations in all of their future activities in Missouri.

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