STONE BLUFF, Okla. (AP) — State and federal environmental authorities have cleared for reuse a former hazardous waste site in Wagoner County that was the site of a deadly explosion in 1997.
The Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality and the US Environmental Protection Agency on Monday issued a Ready for Reuse certificate to Wagoner County commissioners for the 19-acres in Stone Bluff.
DEQ Land Protection Division Director Scott Thompson told the Tulsa World that the land is now safe for both humans and to the environment.
Chief Supply Co. was operating a solvent-recycling plant on the property when a mixture of chemicals exploded and caught fire on March 26, 1997, and burned 24-year-old Ronnie Davis of Haskell and injured another man. Davis later died of his injuries.
The plant has been closed since 2000.