The Toastmaster Macon Superfund Site (site) encompasses a light industrial and residential area of Macon, Missouri, where trichloroethylene (TCE) has been detected in the groundwater, soil gas, and indoor air at the former Toastmaster small-appliance manufacturing facility and certain other properties. The facility, located at 704 South Missouri Street, is now occupied by Compton’s Furniture & More, a retail outlet.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 7 has reached settlements with the Potentially Responsible Parties (PRPs) Compton’s LLC, Spectrum Brands, Inc., and Cooper Industries, LLC, the current and previous owners of the facility, to address TCE contamination at the site.
From the mid-1950s to 2001, Toastmaster, Inc., manufactured small appliances at the facility. In 1991, during Toastmaster’s ownership, TCE was discovered to have been released from an above-ground storage tank on the facility, and also found in nearby groundwater. Further investigation found that TCE vapors were present in both the indoor air and sub-slab air of the facility.
In July 2014, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources conducted indoor air and sub-slab soil gas sampling in homes in the immediate vicinity of the facility to determine whether the contaminants from the facility were impacting nearby residences.
The results of this sampling documented elevated indoor air and/or sub-slab levels of TCE in two of the nearby residences. TCE had volatized (evaporated) and entered the indoor air through vapor intrusion. In October 2014, EPA conducted a Superfund removal action and installed sub-slab vapor mitigation devices in the two affected residences.
Sampling was conducted at nearby residences in 2016 and 2017. The responsible parties, through the settlement that EPA reached with them, installed another vapor mitigation device at a third residence.
The Engineering Evaluation/Cost Analysis (EE/CA) plan was to use vapor intrusion mitigation (VIM), in situ thermal remediation (ISTR), and monitored natural attenuation (MNA) to treat the contaminated source area soils. Between 2020 and 2022, the Toastmaster Macon facility was demolished and removed, with the concrete slab and foundation left in place. In May of 2022, ISTR wells were drilled to treat the TCE in the subsurface and the system was activated later that year.
In 2023, the ISTR system reached the cleanup level in the settlement agreements, and the contractors began sampling to confirm. In late 2023, the sampling confirmed the conclusion of the ISTR treatment and the system is currently being demolished and the wells are being decommissioned.
Vapor samples are collected quarterly from the impacted residences, groundwater samples are take quarterly to confirm the effectiveness of the ISTR treatment and monitor TCE levels, and periodic maintenance may be required to the VIM systems.
