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Indiana county seeking money to clean up old refinery site

PRINCETON, Ind. (AP) – A southwestern Indiana county is seeking federal money to help clean up a 40-acre site that once housed an oil refinery.

Gibson County’s commissioners are working with the Economic Development Coalition of Southwest Indiana to apply for a $200,000 grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

That money would help pay for soil remediation at the former R.J. Oil and Refining property along U.S. 41, south of the city of Princeton. The refinery opened in the 1950s but was shuttered decades ago.

The Daily Clarion reports the commissioners have agreed to release $525,000 from that company to the Indiana Department of Environmental Management to be used as a match in pursuing the EPA grant.

The county and the coalition have until Nov. 16 to apply for that grant.