Hazardous Waste Program

Birds Point – New Madrid Floodway

EPA ID # MOR000539965, MOR000539973

The Missouri Department of Natural Resources issued additional emergency permits to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers - Memphis District. The Emergency Permits allow the Corps of Engineers to treat hazardous waste until Feb. 29, 2012.

The department issued two Emergency Permits to the Corps of Engineers on June 30, 2011, for treating waste blasting agent at two designated levee sections of the Birds Point - New Madrid Floodway. The Corps of Engineers activated the floodway on May 2, 2011, by igniting explosive charges to open specific sections of the levee. In isolated locations at the Inflow Crevasse, located in Wyatt, and Inflow/Outflow #2 Crevasse, located in New Madrid, the blasting agent within the pipes did not fully detonate. The waste blasting agent was considered an ignitable (D001) and reactive (D003) hazardous waste.

Under the two original Emergency Permits, one for each designated levee section, the Corps of Engineers removed and treated a total of 56,000 pounds of the waste blasting agent from the pipes. Approximately 11,042 gallons of treated material was placed in 275-gallon totes to be shipped off-site for disposal at a permitted hazardous waste treatment, storage and disposal facility. During the shipping process, the Corps of Engineers determined that the treatment process had not been sufficient. All totes at both sites were safely stored and two additional Emergency Permits were issued to allow additional treatment of the waste so it could be safely shipped. After completing treatment of the wastes, the Corps of Engineers requested approval from the U.S. Department of Transportation to ship the waste. This approval has not yet been received and may require additional treatment of the waste. Since the second Emergency Permits ended Feb. 29, 2012, the department determined that two additional Emergency Permits, one for each designated levee section, were needed for storage and possible additional treatment of the treated waste.

For more information, or to obtain a written copy of the Emergency Permits, please contact Dave Walker at the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, Hazardous Waste Program, P.O. Box 176, Jefferson City, MO 65102-0176, by telephone at 573-751-3553 or 800-361-4827, or by email. Hearing- and speech-impaired individuals can reach Walker through Relay Missouri at 800-735-2966.