CONSERVATION CHEMICAL CO. MISSOURI EPA ID# MOD000829705 EPA Region 7 City: 3900 Front Street Kansas City, Missouri County: Jackson County Other Names: CCC 07/28/2008 SITE DESCRIPTION The Conservation Chemical Company site, located in eastern Kansas City, operated as a chemical storage and disposal facility from 1960 until 1980. The owners began waste disposal operations almost immediately after building chemical treatment basins, a process area, and a roadway ramp. Waste disposal basins, which were unlined or poorly lined, were used to store and receive wastes, and also served as drying beds and containers for by-product sludges. Many operating records were destroyed in a 1970 fire; those records that survived listed organic chemicals, solvents, acids, caustics, metal hydroxides, and cyanide compounds as some of the materials accepted for disposal at the site. Reports also indicate that pesticides, herbicides, waste oils, organic solvents, halogenated compounds, arsenic, and elemental phosphorus were handled by the facility, as well as pressurized cylinders and other metal containers placed in the lagoons. Information is incomplete, but it is estimated that the facility handled at least 48,000,000 gallons of liquids and sludges and 1,144 tons of solids. About 93,000 cubic yards of materials including drums, bulk liquids, sludges, and solids were buried at the site. By-products from any treatment processes used on the waste materials also were dumped on site. In 1977, the Missouri Clean Water Commission ordered the site closed and covered. An attempt was made by the owner to neutralize hazardous chemicals by blending some wastes. To stabilize the upper waste layers on the site, acidic metal finishing wastes were mixed with fly ash and certain sludges, which produced a mixture consisting largely of gypsum. The site is located in the 100-year flood plain of the Missouri River, about 500 feet away from the river's banks, and near its confluence with the Little Blue River. The site itself was raised about 10 feet above the surrounding area, but most of it would be immersed during a flood. Private wells provide drinking water to approximately 120 people located within 3 miles of the property. The Courtney Bend well field is located several miles downstream from the site; it supplies drinking water to the City of Independence, which is located 5 miles from the site. ------- Site Responsibility: This site is being addressed through Federal and potentially responsible parties' actions. NPL LISTING HISTORY Proposed Date: 06/24/88 Final Date: 10/04/89 Deleted Date: THREATS AND CONTAMINANTS Ground water both on and off the site contains: arsenic, cadmium, chromium, lead, cyanide, phenolic compounds, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) including vinyl chloride and trichloroethylene. Surface and subsurface soil on the site contained all of the contaminants listed above, as well as dioxins and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Contaminants entered the Missouri River via ground water that feeds the river. The Missouri River is used locally and regionally for recreation, industry, irrigation, and as a municipal water supply. People on or near the site may have been exposed by coming into direct contact with contaminated soils, or eating food grown in contaminated soil, or eating game that fed on contaminated plants before site cleanup. CLEANUP APPROACH Response Action Status Entire Site: The EPA selected a remedy for this site in 1987, which featured surface cleaning including demolition and disposal of existing buildings, tanks, and debris and placing them on site below a clean soil cap; installing a withdrawal well system designed to keep ground water from moving away from the site; building a ground water treatment system to remove contaminants; and monitoring the quality and level of off-site ground water. The surface cleanup began in early 1989 and was completed by the summer of 1989. Installation of the well networks was started in 1989 and was completed in early 1990. Construction of the treatment plant began in 1989 and was completed in early 1990. The ground water extraction system will be in operation for 30 years, after which the EPA will evaluate if cleanup goals have been met. ------- Site Facts: In November 1982, the EPA filed suit against the parties it deemed responsible for the site contamination; these defendants in turn sued a group of other potentially responsible parties in 1984. By August 1985, the defendants had agreed to design and conduct cleanup activities on the site that included constructing a slurry wall and reimbursing the EPA for its costs to date. However, new information about the expense and construction difficulty associated with the slurry wall caused a delay. After additional negotiations, the potentially responsible parties agreed to perform a cleanup based on hydraulic control through extraction wells. ENVIRONMENTAL PROGRESS Construction of the remedies selected by the EPA to clean up the Conservation Chemical site has been completed. These actions have eliminated surface contamination and have halted further pollution of surface and ground water resources. The EPA and the potentially responsible parties are actively monitoring the effectiveness of the continuing ground water cleanup. Two Five Year Reviews have been completed, in February 2000 and September 2007. The most recent Five Year Review determined that the remedy is protective of human health and the environment based upon available information, but that additional sampling was required in the Missouri River to determine if groundwater contamination migrating into the river poses an unacceptable risk to the river's ecosystem. This investigation will be completed before the next five year review in 2010. ------- COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT A Community Relations Plan was completed for the site in June 1984. EPA convened a public hearing on October 21, 1985, to receive public comment on the feasibility study completed for the site. EPA distributed a Fact Sheet in March 1987 to seek public comments on the proposed cleanup alternative for the site. EPA convened a public hearing on April 23, 1987, to obtain public comments on the alternative proposed for site cleanup. A Fact Sheet was sent in February 2003 re: Explanation of Significant Differences. No other public interest in the site and associated cleanup since the 1987 Record of Decision. Fact Sheets and Public Notices were developed and placed in the Kansas City Star newspaper for both Five Year Reviews, to announce the starts and completions. ------- SITE REPOSITORY Mid-Continent Public Library, Superfund Records Center 317 W. Highway 24, 901 N. 5th St. Independence, MO 64050 Kansas City, KS 66101 Mail Stop SUPR (913)551-7166 REGIONAL CONTACTS SITE MANAGER: E-MAIL ADDRESS: PHONE NUMBER: COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT COORDINATOR: PHONE NUMBER: E-MAIL ADDRESS: STATE CONTACT: PHONE NUMBER: Steve Auchterlonie auchterlonie.steve@epa.gov. (913)551-7778 Dianna Whitaker (913)551-7003 whitaker.dianna@epa.gov Candice McGhee (573)751-1738 MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION STATE: MO 0704 CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT: 05 EPA ORGANIZATION: SFD-MOKS/SUPR MODIFICATIONS Created by: Karla Created Date: 10/21/97 10:36 AM Asberry/SUPRFUND/R7/U S EPA/US Last Modified by: Steve Last Modified Date: 07/28/2008 02:08 PM Auchterlonie/R7/U SEP A/U S ------- |