In a FOX23 Investigation, the EPA answers questions on health concerns at a Bristow Superfund site.

Glen Jones showed Tulsa's Investigative Reporter Janna Clark where he saw black sludge oozing up in his parents' yard in Bristow. He said the black gunk was so massive, a truck got stuck. 

"I parked a U-Haul truck, and it fell down...there was a cave in the ground. Both tires...went into the ground...there was a deep hole, and it had all that black gunk in it," Glen said. 

Glen said his parents bought their home and land about 20 years ago, long after oil refineries operated here, dumped waste and left. 

"Did they have an idea what was here before they moved in?" I asked. 

"Oh, no," Glen said. 

He said he used to help his dad, Glen, Sr., brush hog the property, and they ran into a bunch of old refinery pipes. 

"Pipes were sticking up and tearing his tractor up," Glen said. 

He pointed out pipes that are sticking up out of the ground. 

EPA Remedial Project manager for Region 6 Ally Mullins said refineries closed and left their refining structures and contamination behind. 

An old aerial map showed the area when the facility was still running. The Wilcox Refinery closed in 1963, and the EPA named the area a superfund site in 2013. 

For years, the EPA has worked to clean it up, like the Jones' family's land where the tank farms used to be. 

Mullins said workers finished one stage of clean up in 2023. Workers dug up 30-35,000 cubic yards of contaminated waste, which is enough to fill 10 Olympic sized swimming pools. 

"EPA deemed that that was an immediate threat to human health and the environment, so we were able to...clean up that portion of the project and of the site, kind of faster than we normally clean up certain things, because we deemed it was an emergency," Mullins said. 

The Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality did its first assessment in 1994. The document said DEQ found "oily waste"...that the "site surface has been contaminated with hazardous substances" and "waste volumes are estimated to be large." 

Three years later, the EPA followed up with its Expanded Site Inspection Report in 1997. It mentioned "black material seeping up." 

It said out of 15 soil sample results, eight showed a "high concentration of waste" for things like aluminum, arsenic and lead. 

Pastor Mark Evans told me back in 2014 that he and his family lived in a parsonage next to the church on the site. He said his kids got lead poisoning after living here. 

"There's something wrong with this property," Evans said. 

Stephen Lane said his little boy's blood test showed high levels of lead. Both Evans and Lane moved their families off the land. 

"I don't want to change my family's health," Lane said. 

Roy White grew up in the house that used to be the refinery office. He told me blood work showed high levels of arsenic in his system. He left on his own. 

"I should've been told to leave that place," White said. 

Sondra Thomas said a soil sample test showed arsenic in her yard. 

"I was not happy. They told me it was nothing to be concerned about," Thomas said. 

I asked her if she was concerned. 

"Yeah, it's arsenic. It kills people," Thomas answered. 

"You've got all this contamination, and obviously it needs to be cleaned up, or you wouldn't be cleaning it up. So, is it safe for people to live on the Superfund site?" I asked Mullins. 

"I don't like to make large, blanketed statements," Mullins said. "When it comes to Wilcox, and you're looking at the levels of contamination that are currently present in the residential areas, it is safe for individuals to live there and you know, I've told you this before, Janna, but it's important to look at exposure and length of time of exposure." 

Mullin said this is a public meeting in 2023: 

"That exposure to have a significant impact would have to be chronic, over a long period of time." 

DEQ told me the same thing in 2023. 

"In order for humans to be adversely affected, they would have to be exposed to this contamination for long periods of time. By long, I mean 40 plus years," said DEQ's Kelsey Bufford. 

"I want to know what people ask you," I said to Mullins. 

"Primarily, the concerns that I'm getting lately are health concerns, and I think it's been sparked by some notable deaths in the area, and understandably so," Mullins said. 

Glen Jones told me his mom, Pat, suffered seizures after she moved to Bristow. 

Pats said her husband, Glen, Sr. developed dark spots all over his body. She said some were cancerous and had to be removed then in 2024, he died from prostate cancer. 

"I think it's from all the chemicals that's in the ground and the water," Pat said. 

"What would you say to people who are concerned about their health?" I asked Mullins. 

"I would say, first and foremost, contact your primary care provider. I am not a medical professional, and none of my colleagues are medical professionals," Mullins said. 

Years ago, the EPA asked another federal agency to do a health assessment. The agency's called ASTDR, which is short for Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. 

In 2023, ATSDR representatives came to a public meeting and promised to help. ASTDR took down everyone's contact information, but people like the Jones family said, after that, they didn't hear a word from the agency. 

"No one ever contacted us," Pat said. 

I recently asked for an interview. ATSDR declined but said the agency still plans to "determine whether any exposures pose a health hazard." 

When I emailed and asked: "What's the reason an assessment hasn't already been done?" ATSDR didn't answer. 

"I begged...all the big shots that were there to please help these people. My husband was right there beside me at the time. I can't have him beside me now; he's out there in the graveyard," Pat said with tears in her eyes. 

Mullins said the EPA's next move is to investigate to find out how much has been cleaned up and how much they have to go. 

"Do we truly know how much contamination is here? DO we truly know how much we've touched, and do we know how far it extends," Mullins said. 

The area the EPA cleaned up is where the tank farm was, but the worst areas have not been cleaned up yet - the fenced off areas where refining happened - like the land where White lived that the EPA called the lead-additive area and the church's property. 

"Those areas have the most contamination?" I asked. 

"Yes," Mullins said. "It is safe to say it's concentrated in that area." 

So far, the EPA has spent almost $8 million on clean up. 

"They could have bought everybody out of this place, "Glen said. 

"Buyouts are very unique; we don't do them often," said Mullins. "It's not our standard of practice in what we like to do, because we like to remediate lands to where they can be properly reused." 

"Does it help to get the funding to clean it up if people are living on it?" I asked. 

"Absolutely, you know there's a way that sites are prioritized, and definitely residential properties," Mullins said. 

"If it wasn't safe to live here, they would have us move right?" Pat asked. 

"We would not have individuals living at a site that we deemed was unsafe and an immediate threat to human health," Mullins said. 

"They deem this place good, but still people are dying," said Glen. "Still people are coming down with cancer. Come on, people. Let's open our eyes up to what we're being told and use our brain. Don't just go along with what people tell you." 

Mullins said she is trying something new. She's working with the Oklahoma State Department of Health and its cancer registry to see if a local agency will do a health study, instead of waiting on a federal agency, ATSDR. 

If you have any health-related concerns, you can call ATSDR at 1-800-CDC-INFO.