The 69-acre Whirlpool brownfield site in Oxford, MS has been sold to the University of Mississippi for $3.4 million. To ensure the property is safe as well as marketable, Whirlpool entered into an agreement with MDEQ in October, 2010 under the Mississippi Brownfield Program to clean up an area in the defunct plant that showed the presence of hydraulic fluid, which has contaminated a 500 square foot area. The Mississippi Commission on Environmental Quality, during the October Meeting, also approved the sale of the site to the University of Mississippi.
The Mississippi Attorney General’s Office approved the university’s purchase, provided Whirlpool agreed to pay for any problems caused by hydraulic fluid contamination. The state’s College Board has also approved the deal. Whirlpool first announced the Oxford plant’s closure in July 2008 and that production of its built-in cooking appliances would transition to the Cleveland, TN facility. The Mississippi site closed in March 2009.
Read more: Cleveland Daily Banner - Whirlpool plant sale in Oxford a local lesson
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