NORPHLET — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has added a former oil refinery site in Union County to the National Priorities List of Superfund sites.
The EPA says the MacMillan Ring-Free Oil site is near a residential neighborhood and a school in Norphlet. The site was used as a crude-oil refinery and as a maker of lubrication and asphalt products from 1929 to 1987.
The site has been abandoned since 2007.
The EPA says contamination from the site has seeped into groundwater and into drainage pathways that lead to wetlands north of the site. Soil on and under the property has also been affected.
According to the EPA, some contamination has been cleaned up, but more work needs to be done to fully assess the threat to the surrounding area.