KDHE schedules next cleanup phase at Neodesha’s former refinery site

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment has approved the next planned excavation phase at Neodesha’s former refinery site, while a separate study that could shape the site’s long-term cleanup remains in development.

KDHE approved the Remedial Excavation Work Plan on April 6, 2026. The plan identifies July through September as the preferred period for excavation because typically drier conditions may reduce complications related to precipitation.

The proposed field work is expected to take approximately one to two days. As of August 2, 2026, the KDHE materials reviewed for this article do not confirm that the excavation has begun or been completed. The timing remains dependent on project and site conditions.

What is planned at the site

The site is the 320-acre former Amoco refinery at 1100 North 12th Street on the west side of Neodesha near the Fall River. An oil refinery operated there from approximately 1897 to 1970.

KDHE says past petroleum releases contaminated soil and groundwater within the former refinery footprint, and that contaminated groundwater migrated onto some residential and industrial properties in Neodesha. The agency identifies volatile organic compounds, semi-volatile organic compounds and heavy metals, including lead and arsenic, among the contaminants associated with the site.

KDHE’s Identified Sites List records the site as active and identifies semiannual groundwater monitoring and environmental-use controls. That registry warns that its underlying data were last updated June 3, 2021. The current KDHE refinery page and the March 2026 work plan therefore provide the more relevant records for the 2026 schedule.

Safeguards required during excavation

The work plan requires advance notification to KDHE before excavation begins. It also calls for sampling to characterize excavated waste and sampling of backfill material.

Contractors must follow health-and-safety procedures and maintain spill-response measures during the work. Those requirements address the handling, testing and placement of material during the field phase; the scheduled work alone does not establish a new public-health emergency or a new exposure finding.

The larger cleanup decision is still pending

KDHE’s current refinery page says a Corrective Action Study is anticipated for submission in late July through August 2026. That is an agency projection, not confirmation that the study was submitted by August 2. A dated filing or agency posting would be needed to verify submission.

The study would not itself be the final cleanup remedy. KDHE says it will review the revised study and receive community input before issuing a final Corrective Action Decision. The agency’s site information states that the final remedy remains undetermined.

For Neodesha residents, the immediate consequence is continued monitoring of an active contaminated site and the possibility of a brief excavation operation during the July-through-September window. The next developments to watch are a dated notice that field work is scheduled or underway, the Corrective Action Study submission, KDHE’s review and any public input opportunity connected to the eventual decision.

Sources

• KDHE: Neodesha Refinery (Former Amoco Refinery)
• KDHE Bureau of Environmental Remediation Identified Site Detail — Project C310300027