Studer Container Service is a waste hauling and metal recycling business. This business operates at 520 Madison Avenue, approximately 800 feet south of the Missouri River in the highly industrial Kansas City, Missouri, West Bottoms area. It is adjacent to the Kansas City Community Release Center, located at 651 Mulberry Street.
During the winter of 2012, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) performed a routine Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) compliance evaulation inspection at a property adjacent to the Studer Container Service property. During this inspection, several drums were identified at the Studer Container Service Property. Some of these drums had hazardous waste lables but others had no lables. A follow up inspection was performed on April 10th and 11th at the Studer Container Service Site. Several containers of waste were identified as requiring a hazardous waste determination. At the time of this inspection, no such determination had been made and the property owner claimed that these items had been abandoned on his property without his knowledge or consent. These items include twenty-six 55-gallon drums and six pallets of other smaller containers. The site was referred by EPA's Air and Waste Management Division to the Superfund Division after the inspection.
On June 28th, 2012, a removal site evaluation was conducted by EPA On-Scene Coordinators (OSCs) Tom Mahler and Dave Williams. During this evaluation, field screening of the drums' contents and other containers indicated the presence of characteristic ignitable waste. Many of these drums did not have intact lids, presenting a potential for chemical release due to rain entering the unsecure drums, spillage, or expansion of contents from excessive tempuratures. High VOC readings were detected on several drums, which could lead to pressure build up and eventual drum failure. Based on site conditions and possible threat of chemical release, the EPA OSCs determined that an emergency removal action should be taken to dispose of the abandoned drums and containers.
A Removal Action was therefore conducted Thursday, July 12, 2012. The EPA Removal Contractor, Environmental Restoration, hired PSC to characterize, transport and propertly dispose of the drums and other waste materials. Under EPA OSC oversight, all the containers were safely removed from site and the EPA personnel and contractors demoblized that same day.
