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Officials Give Update On Oil Spill Cleanup In Mayflower

A town hall meeting from this summer.
KUAR

In a press conference Thursday, officials heading the Mayflower Oil Spill clean up efforts say the air and water qualities in the affected area remain at safe levels for residents.  6,750 cubic yards of solid waste materials have been removed from the site, but more decontamination must be done to remove the 5,000 barrels of oil spilled.  

Faulkner County Judge Allen Dodson, the local on-scene coordinator, assures residents that the Mayflower Incident United Command team has experts and trained staff to handle all aspects of the clean up.

A Mayflower resident asked Karen Tyrone, Vice President of Exxon Mobil Pipeline Company,  how seepage beneath the highway and in other hard to reach areas would be taken care of. 

"When all the free oil is cleaned up, there's another phase to this and that's the remedial. And it will involve things like continuing to have people out there in case their is seepage that's unexpected. We'll have that protection in place and we'll monitor that. It is an important phase of the entire effort" said Tyrone. 

The Arkansas Department of Health approved the reentry of some of the residents into their homes, but none have returned to the neighborhood.