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Agreement to Enable Environmental Cleanup, Redevelopment of Former Solutia-J.F. Queeny Chemical Facility in St. Louis

Release Date: 09/30/2009
Contact Information: Chris Whitley, 913-551-7394, [email protected]

Environmental News

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(Kansas City, Kan., Sept. 30, 2009) - EPA Region 7 has reached a legal agreement with the owner-developers of a century-old St. Louis chemical manufacturing facility, paving the way for the environmental cleanup and redevelopment of the 38-acre site along the west bank of the Mississippi River. The agreement has been reached under the federal statute addressing hazardous waste issues, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA).

According to a consent order filed administratively today in Kansas City, Kan., SWH Investments II, LLC, of St. Louis has agreed to take a number of steps to clean up the commercial-industrial property at 1700 South Second Street and return it to productive use. Those steps include a short-term and immediate cleanup; a focused study to identify any remaining cleanup issues; the selection of a final remedy for the site, to include public participation; long-term groundwater monitoring; and capping of soil contamination as part of the property's redevelopment.

Additionally, SWH Investments has agreed to make financial assurances totaling $2.6 million to address the short-term and long-term costs of cleanup and remediation, and to abide by terms of a restrictive covenant with the State of Missouri.

From 1901 to 2006, the facility operated as a chemical manufacturing site, using more than 800 raw materials to produce more than 200 products, including aspirin, Saccharin, pesticides, plasticizers and synthetic fluids. Formerly owned by Monsanto, the property was acquired by Solutia, Inc., in 1997. In May 2008, it was purchased by SWH Investments for cleanup and redevelopment.

Major contaminants of concern at the site include cancer-causing polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in soils, and well as trichloroethene (TCE) and other volatile organic compounds in groundwater. EPA estimates the short-term cleanup will remove 2,500 tons of PCB-contaminated soils and address 3.2 million gallons of contaminated groundwater.

The consent order is subject to a 30-day public comment period.

EPA anticipates that after the completion of the short-term cleanup measures at the site, a final remedy selection could be made sometime during 2011. The final cleanup plan for the site, once determined, would be subject to a 45-day public comment period.