ROXANA, IL (KMOX) – Some Roxana residents received some bad news at a public hearing Tuesday; preliminary test show several homes have a potentially dangerous concentration of the chemical Benzene in the soil and ground water around their property.  Other homes in the community show a lower concentration of the chemical.

The Environmental Protection Agency’s Chris Cahnovsky explained that the contamination stems from two spills back in 1989 when nearly nine-thousand-gallons of chemicals leaked into the ground.   The spills occurred at what was the Shell Oil Co. refinery.  The current refinery is half-owned by ConocoPhillips, but Shell Oil is still responsible for the contamination.

Dave Webb of the Illinois Health Department told those attending the public hearing, the main concern is benzene, a known carcinogen.   Webb says testing continues at homes along Schaeffer Street from Second to Eight avenues.

Property owner and life long resident Dale Carroll says over a year ago, test wells were being drilled around Roxana. Carroll told KMOX he is not surprised by the E-P-A and health department findings;  in 1986, he owned a building where the Benzene spill happened and it was not until 1999 that the City of Roxana terminated Carroll’s lease and bought him out. Since then, the building has been vacant.

The E-P-A’s  Cahnovsky says Shell has been addressing ground water contamination for over 20-years, but recent testing reveals it’s still a problem. In addition to the presence of Benzene, testing has also revealed high levels of hydro-carbons. Cahnovsky contends the levels were not high enough to have people leave their homes however one family was told not to sleep in their basement.

Residents are not comfortable with that explanation….They say some Roxana residents have developed different types of Cancer, including Acute Myelogenous (AML) Leukemia,  associated with Benzene exposure. Some of the town’s people have already filed suit.