[StBernard] EPA Continues to Sample the Murphy Oil Site in New Orleans

[Westley Annis]

(Washington, D.C. -- Thursday, July 13, 2006) On July 13, EPA updated its
website to include the results from additional samples collected at the
Murphy Oil Site. Pursuant to a FEMA mission assignment, US EPA is overseeing
Murphy Oil's ongoing sampling activities of residential and other
properties. Today EPA posted samples taken as part of two ongoing efforts.

The first set of samples relates to ongoing activities to assess the level
of contamination at residential and other sites. Ten percent of the samples
Murphy collects are split between Murphy and EPA. EPA sends the split
samples for independent analysis. Thus far, Murphy has collected 8097
sediment samples from 4859 properties. Of the 8097 sediment samples
collected, US EPA has sent 844 split samples for separate analyses. US EPA
has received, evaluated and is posting the results of the first 835 samples.

Additional soil samples are taken after cleanup at each property to confirm
that LDEQ's Risk Evaluation/Corrective Action Program (RECAP) Standards have
been met. Ten percent of the confirmatory samples Murphy collects are split
between Murphy and EPA. EPA sends the split samples for independent
analysis. Thus far, US EPA has sent 46 split samples for separate analyses.
US EPA has received, evaluated and is posting the results of 40 of these
samples. The levels of compounds detected in the samples were below their
respective RECAP standards.

More information on these results:
http://www.epa.gov/katrina/testresults/murphy/index.html