The Faball Abandoned Container site, located at 8709 Xograph
Avenue in Jennings, St. Louis County, Missouri, is approximately 5-acres and consists
of the 31,975-square-feet facility. The
site is located in a mixed residential and industrial use area.
In 1902, the original owner, M.A. Seed Dry Plate Company,
was purchased by Eastman Kodak, who continued to make dry plates at the site until
1911. Around 1912 the property was bought by William Oepts who operated National
Oil Cloth Company until the building caught fire in 1915 after which Mr. Oepts
reopened it as Central Film Co. The site was then sold to Arthur Buck in 1930
who moved his own company, Buck X-Ograph, to the site where dental X-rays were
processed. In 1973, Photonic Company Inc. purchased the site which then changed
to Arkwright of St. Louis Inc. in March of 1978 and went out of business in
December of 1978. Faball Enterprises acquired the site shortly afterwards and
manufactured bowling balls until the city of Jennings took over the property in
2018 due to lack of tax payments.
On October 28, 2021, a four-alarm fire damaged much of the southern
area of the abandoned building. Shortly
after the fire, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (MoDNR) hazardous
waste program conducted a RCRA inspection of the facility. During this investigation hundreds of containers
of labeled hazardous substances were discovered throughout the building. Many
of the containers were identified as industrial/laboratory grade chemicals, and many of the
containers were unlabeled, opened, with several spilled onto the
floor. These hazardous materials presented a potential for harm to human health and the environment due to the manner in which they are stored, the large number of wastes present, the
unsecure nature of the building which is damaged and open to the elements due
to recent fires, and vandalization which had occurred and would likely occur again.
A number of these containers appeared to contain flammable materials,
heavy metals, various acids and bases, solvents, as well as urethanes and
polyurethanes. Also found on-site was at least one container of low-level radioactive
material. Visual evidence within the building, and additional information from
the local municipality which acquired the site through unpaid taxes, indicates
that trespassers had frequently entered the building and had vandalized and
stolen hazardous substances. These factors create a substantial threat of a
release of hazardous substances into the environment.
Based on this information, MoDNR made a referral for
Federal Assistance to EPA Region 7 to conduct assessment and removal
activities.
From March 3, 2022, to May 31, 2022, the EPA Superfund Removal
program conducted a time-critical removal action at the Site. EPA and contractor personnel documented more
than 390 fifty-five-gallon drums and 460 five-gallon and smaller containers of
suspected hazardous substances in a state of abandonment. EPA conducted an inventory of all chemical
containers at the Site to characterize contents of every container for waste
stream determination. EPA with contractor
personnel stabilized, segregated, and consolidated more than 1,500 chemical
containers ranging in size from small glass vials to 55-gallon drums. All emptied
containers were crushed and either disposed of or recycled. All bulk wastes and lab pack materials were
completely removed from the site by February 20, 2023.
