United States Environmental Protection Agency
Region VII
POLLUTION REPORT

Subject: 

The Carter Carburetor Site includes two dilapidated buildings and two associated vacant lots in St. Louis, Missouri.  The Site is in an Environmental Justice community. The primary contaminants found at this site include poly-chlorinated biphenyls (PCB), trichloroethylene (TCE) and asbestos.  The Site is in a commercial area with residential areas nearby.

The EPA has identified two Potentially Responsible Parties (PRPs):  ACF Industries and Carter Building Incorporated (hereinafter ACF and CBI).  ACF was the former owner of the buildings and CBI is the current owner of the buildings.  ACF has spent several million dollars identifying the extent of contamination and quantifying the potential human health risks at the Site under a CERCLA Administrative Settlement Agreement and Order on Consent.  ACF has prepared an Engineering Evaluation/Cost Analysis (EE/CA) laying out several cleanup alternatives for four distinct areas of the Site: the CBI Building, the Die Cast Area, the former aboveground TCE storage tank area, and the Willco Plastics Building.  The EE/CA was finalized and submitted to the public for comment in September 2010.  

After extending the public comment period several times, the EPA received numerous comments on the EE/CA.  Responses to all substantial comments received from the public were documented in the site Responsiveness Summary.  Taking into account comments from the community, the Region 7 Administrator signed an Action Memorandum in March 2011, documenting the appropriate removal actions to address contamination in each of the four areas described above.  

In December 2011, ACF voluntarily completed installing a fence around the Site to prevent unauthorized access and entry into the contaminated buildings.  

The EPA completed negotiations with the PRPs and submitted the Settlement Agreements to the public for comment.  Comments were received, evaluated and responsiveness summaries were prepared, and the Agreements became final.  

As part of the negotiations, the EPA agreed to remove debris from the building which belonged to previous unknown tenants of the building and is potentially asbestos-contaminated.  This fund-lead action was performed pursuant to an Action Memorandum signed by the Regional Administrator and concurred on by EPA Headquarters, Office of Emergency Managment (OEM), due to the potential for asbestos in the debris.  

Fund-lead debris removal actions for the CBI Building are complete.

During this reporting period, the PRP activities included continued processing of materials from the Willco and CBI buildings, continued demolition of the CBI building, continued excavation of the die cast area, removing water from the excavation area for further inspection, shipping demolition materials from Cooling Tower #1 off site, and continuing to backfill the excavation of the former die cast area. The EPA START contractor continues to conduct air monitoring of the perimeter of the Site. No readings were detected above the set action levels. By OSC estimates, the CBI building demolition is approximately 99% completed and the excavation of the former die cast area is approximately 60% completed.

During the next reporting period, the planned removal actions include continued processing of materials from the Willco and CBI buildings, continued demolition of the CBI building, continued excavation of the die cast area, removing water from the excavation area for further inspection, and continuing to backfill the excavation of the former die cast area. The EPA START contractor will continue to conduct perimeter air monitoring.

The next PolRep update is scheduled for 3/4/2016. The EPA and MDNR are currently reviewing submitted work plans for comment.

The next Quarterly Site Meeting is scheduled for 3/2/2016 in Lenexa, KS.

Work was suspended on site on 2/24/2016 due to inclement weather.

The PRP will be responsible for removal, tracking and disposition of waste.  Although EPA will oversee and report these activities, specific waste information will not be tracked in POLREPs.