DEQ Plans Remediation Of Wolcott Street Ooze

Wolcott Street's bubbling ooze that comes up during the summer heat most years in front of Joshua's Storehouse will be remediated this summer.

The Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality's Orphan Site Program will address the toxic remnants from what may have been Wyoming's first refinery in the late nineteenth-and early 20th century.

"We'll be removing some areas of highly weathered crude oil and it does have a small acid component to it. We will take off that top level of asphalt and we will neutralize the soils."

Cindi Martinez, with the DEQ's Orphan Site Program says once neutralized they'll remove and replace the soils.

A request to the city of Casper for help in covering the disposal costs has been denied.

The remediation is expected to cost about $480,000 and be paid for with Abandoned Mine Land funds.

Martinez says they'll hold informational meetings on the process when it gets nearer the time to start.