Done Drillin’! | MO’s Oldest Petroleum Release Site Closes

No Further Action Status for one of Missouri’s Oldest Petroleum Releases!

Back in 1990, Wilson Phillips “Hold On” was at the #1 position on the Rick Dees Top 40, “Cheers” was on everyone’s TV set, Patrick Swayze starred in “Ghost”, and every kid wanted a brand-new Super NES for Christmas.

…and at a small gas station in Springfield, a gasoline release was reported to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (MoDNR).

After the initial release, steps were taken to prevent further damage. Another company attempted to address the issue, but in 2002, EWI took over the process. Led by Jason Smith, who is now EWI’s President, the EWI team excavated soil to remove spilled gas near the convenience store site. The following year, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources issued new guidelines, so EWI had to gather more data to ensure compliance with the updated process.

Over time, the site faced various challenges due to changing policies and regulations and in 2013, updated guidelines required reevaluation of all data.

When the owner went out of business in 2014, EWI was trusted to continue the investigation by the new owners. EWI’s team addressed ecological risks including:

Alleviating concerns with nearby creeks, Ozark cavefish, and sinkholes
Dry monitoring wells
Future use of the property
potential for comingled groundwater plumes with another site across the street
recovering remaining gasoline
determining whether a nearby fault in the bedrock posed a migration risk for groundwater impact on the deeper drinking water aquifer
conducting targeted door-to-door surveys to confirm no unregistered water wells were present near the site

Countless meetings with regulatory bodies were held to move the project forward. In 2023, the owners decommissioned the tank system. EWI removed the site’s underground storage tanks (USTs) and submitted a Closure Report and Updated Risk Assessment to MoDNR. EWI received a No Further Action letter in December 2023, marking the end of a 33-year investigation—one of the longest in the state and one of EWI’s longest projects. The team at EWI celebrates every successful project, but this one is particularly special.

Tessa LeRoy