The site address is 4658 Rosalie Street, St. Louis, Missouri, 63115. It occupies a large lot just north of I-70, west of West Florissant Road, northwest of O’Fallon Park, and southwest of Bellefontain Cemetery. The site is located in an industrial area of the city with residential properties to the east and west. The former owner of the property was Russell McVicker. McVicker operated an industrial flea market at the site selling a variety of items including industrial/commercial chemicals. McVicker forfeited ownership of the property to the city of St. Louis for failure to pay taxes. The city of St. Louis Land Reutilization Authority holds the property in trust.
On September 14, 2006, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) Environmental Services Program, at the request of the MDNR’s Hazardous Waste Program, conducted a walk-through investigation of the site. The purposes of the investigation were to inventory containers at the site and determine if they contained hazardous materials.
They found more than 70 drums, totes, and other containers scattered around the property. Several containers had leaked their contents onto the ground both inside and outside the buildings on the site. MDNR determined that the containers held both flammable and corrosive liquids. The city of St. Louis reported to MDNR that over 100 drums had been present and had been moved to another location. In addition, there is historical information that the site may have been used as a location to dismantle and burn electronic equipment to recover various metals. MDNR contacted the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 7 Superfund Division’s Emergency Response & Removal Branch seeking assistance in characterizing the site and conducting a removal action.
On December 6, 2006, EPA visited the site to perform reconnaissance, document site conditions, and select containers for screening for hazardous substances. The site includes a large open lot occupying roughly one city block and covered with large quantities of trash, waste tires, drums, totes, other debris, and two buildings. One building is a large, long, rectangular, two-story brick building that appeared to have been a manufacturing facility. There were numerous drums, totes, smaller containers, and compressed gas cylinders in this building. The second building was partially demolished with the exterior stripped away and many of the I-beam supports cut away, most likely by individuals selling the metal for scrap.
Ten containers ranging in size from 5-gallon buckets to 300-gallon totes were sampled for field characterization. Results of the characterization indicated that there were several different characteristic wastes present: flammable, corrosive (both >12.5pH and <2pH), and potentially explosive.
