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 memo 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.
On or about May 8, 2015, the asbestos abatement contractor began demobilization from the site, after completing all abatement deemed safe to complete, which amounts to approximately 90% of all the asbestos. The remaing asbestos, which is located in areas to dangerous to work, will be addressed during demolition.
As of January 26, 2015, EPA has approved all work plans neccessary to begin excavation of the Die Cast Area Soils and Demolition of both the CBI building and the WILLCO building.
On April 21, 2015, ACF Industries released the bid specifications, thus soliciting bids for demolition and excavation work at the site. Currently, all bids are due on May 27, 2015.
In addtion to asbestos abatement, the PRP has completed lead paint removal by dry ice blasting and removal of debris. The PRP's activities are further detailed in the monthly reports required under the Administrative Order and Settlement Agreement. Those reports can be found at www.epaosc.org/cartercarb under documents in the monthly reports folder.
Excavation of the Die Cast Area and demolition of both the CBI and WILLCO buildings.
Although actual demolition and excavation will not begin for several months, pre-demolition work will start soon after selection of the contractor. Pre-demolition work includes: disconnecting and/or properly abandoning utilities, closure of streets, shoring of the excavation area along Grand Boulevard and moving the fence.
None.
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