conservation chemical co.

3900 FRONT ST

The Conservation Chemical Company site, is a 6 acre site located in eastern Kansas City, operated as a chemical storage and disposal facility from 1960 until 1980. The owners began waste disposal operations almost immediately after building chemical treatment basins, a process area, and a roadway ramp. Waste disposal basins, which were unlined or poorly lined, were used to store and receive wastes, and also served as drying beds for by- product sludges. Many operating records were destroyed in a 1970 fire; those records that survived listed organic chemicals, solvents, acids, caustics, metal hydroxides, and cyanide compounds as some of the materials accepted for disposal at the site. Reports also indicate that pesticides, herbicides, waste oils, organic solvents, halogenated compounds, arsenic, and elemental phosphorus were handled by the facility, as well as pressurized cylinders and other metal containers placed in the lagoons. Information is incomplete, but it is estimated that the facility handled at least 48,000,000 gallons of liquids and sludges and 1,144 tons of solids. About 93,000 cubic yards of materials including drums, bulk liquids, sludges, and solids were buried at the site. By- products from any treatment processes used on the waste materials also were dumped on site. In 1975, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) investigated the site and found it to be operating as a solid waste disposal area. On December 15, 1975, MDNR requested that CCC cease the disposal of solid wastes at the site and that remedial actions be taken to clean up the site. In 1977, the Missouri Clean Water Commission ordered the site closed and covered. An attempt was made by the owner to neutralize hazardous chemicals by blending some wastes. To stabilize the upper waste layers on the site, acidic metal finishing wastes were mixed with fly ash and certain sludges, which produced a mixture consisting largely of gypsum. In September 1979, the United States initiated the first of two legal actions seeking investigation and clean up of the CCC site. The second such action in 1982 was initiated after CERCLA was enacted in 1980. The site was proposed for listing on the National Priorities List in April 1985 and was added to the list in October 1989. Following public notice and a public hearing, a Record of Decision (ROD) was signed on September 30, 1987, by the Regional Administrator selecting the remedy. An Explanation of Significant Differences (ESD) addressing OU1 was completed in January 2003. The site is located in the 100-year flood plain of the Missouri River, about 500 feet away from the river's banks, and near its confluence with the Little Blue River. The site itself was raised about 10 feet above the surrounding area, but most of it would be immersed during a flood. Private wells provide drinking water to approximately 120 people located within 3 miles of the property. The Courtney Bend well field is located several miles downstream from the site; it supplies drinking water to the City of Independence, which is located 5 miles from the site.

Hazardous Ranking Score

30 / 100

A score of 28.5 or higher qualifies a site for the Superfund National Priority List.

Regional Contact

Region 7
Phone: (913) 551-7003

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Timeline

Discovery
Site Inspection
Preliminary Assessment
Final Listing On NPL
Removal

Contaminants & Health Effects

      Carcinogen
      Endocrine Disrupter
      Neurotoxic
      Sensitiser
      Reproductive Toxin
      Persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic
      VOC
      Mutagen

        Census

        White
        African American
        Asian
        American Indian and Alaska Native
        Native Hawaiian
        Other

        27

        People living
        within a 1 mile radius

        $45,306

        Average Income

        5

        Occupied homes

        Potentially Responsible Parties

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