LOUISVILLE — Giant waste-oil tanks that were abandoned by their owners are probably contaminating soil near the Ohio River, an environmental official said.

        But officials with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which is overseeing the cleanup, said they won't know how far the oil has spread until the 18 tanks are drained and removed. Nine of the tanks, filled with a sludge-like material, are 40 feet tall.

        Louisville Environmental Services Inc. owns the 25-acre site in southwest Jefferson County, but the company has abandoned it after a failed attempt to convert the complex to a hazardous-waste incinerator.

        The state called in the EPA in February, after the company said it couldn't afford to clean up the tanks and the 3 million gallons of oily water they hold.

        If the EPA has to haul away or cap contaminated soil, the cost, now estimated at $1.5 million, would rise and the project could take two or three years, said Art Smith, the EPA site manager.

        Mr. Smith said there will be some contamination because the tanks are deteriorating and the pipes are leaking.

        But he said that there's no threat to neighbors and no one has seen any oil seeping into the river.

        Louisville Environmental Services was formed to purchase the property in the early 1990s to use it first as a hazardous-waste incinerator and then as a plant that would make industrial fuels from solvents.

        But neighbors and environmental groups successfully stalled the project's opening for years.

        In September 2000, a routine state inspection found a hazardous spill of hydrochloric and sulfuric acids caused by vandals who had broken into a lab.

        Neither the company nor its attorney could be reached for comment.

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