JEFFERSON CITY, MO, OCT. 11, 2018 - The Missouri Department of Natural Resources invites the public to review and offer written comments on a draft hazardous waste permit modification for the Doe Run Company’s Buick Resource Recovery Facility until Nov. 26.
The department is holding a public meeting and public hearing about the draft permit modification on Tuesday, Nov. 13, at the Quad County Firehouse, located at 80 Hwy 49 in Viburnum. The meeting will begin at 6 p.m. and is an opportunity for the public to ask questions, share information and discuss issues with facility and department staff.
The public hearing will follow the public meeting, beginning at 7 p.m. At the hearing, members of the public can have their comments about the draft permit modification entered into the official record. The department will not answer questions at the hearing but will provide responses in writing, along with any written comments submitted during the public comment period. Written comments and oral public hearing testimony are treated with equal consideration. Individuals requiring special services or accommodations to attend the meeting or hearing can make arrangements by contacting Heidi Rice at least 72 hours before the meetings at 573-526-8964 or 800-361-4827 or by email at heidi.rice@dnr.mo.gov. Hearing- and speech-impaired individuals may reach Rice through Relay Missouri at 800-735-2966.
The Doe Run Company’s Buick Resource Recovery Facility operates a secondary lead smelting facility at the site, located at 18594 Hwy KK in Boss. Buick recycles used, or "spent," lead-acid batteries and other lead-bearing hazardous and non-hazardous wastes to recover lead, trace metals, sulfuric acid and polyethylene plastic. The recoverable lead-bearing material is smelted and resold as secondary lead. Fluxing agents, such as limestone, are used in the smelting process to react with the impurities in the lead-bearing materials, which are then removed from the molten lead as slag. Buick currently recycles about 50 percent of the slag, which contains 3 to 5 percent lead, back into the secondary process. Buick treats the remaining slag on-site and then disposes the non-hazardous slag in an on-site hazardous waste landfill. By keeping the slag on-site, Buick eliminated about 98 percent of the waste leaving the facility. If processing technology advances, Buick would also be able to smelt the material again to remove additional lead.
Buick is currently operating at the site under a department-issued Missouri Hazardous Waste Management Facility Part I Permit. This permit allows Buick to store and disassemble the spent lead-acid batteries, which are classified as toxic and corrosive hazardous waste. On May 3, 2017, Buick submitted a permit modification request to the department, requesting to modify its Part I Permit to add a seventh cell to the landfill, increasing the overall storage capacity by approximately 146,000 cubic yards. The landfill is a phased development and currently permitted for six cells. The operational life of the entire landfill was originally planned for more than 20 years; however, current practices at the facility are rapidly using the amount of permitted storage capacity.
The department previously approved temporary authorization requests for Buick to build and temporarily use Cell 7. After a thorough technical review of the permit modification request, the department prepared a draft of the proposed Part I Permit modification for the Buick facility. The draft permit modification proposes to allow Buick to continue using Cell 7 after the temporary authorization expires Dec. 5, 2018.
The permit modification request, draft Part I Permit modification and a fact sheet are available on the department’s website at https://dnr.mo.gov/env/hwp/permits/notices.htm. Some supporting documents are not available on the department’s website due to their file size. The public can review and copy the documents listed above and other supporting documents at the Ozark Regional Library’s Viburnum Branch, Missouri Ave., in Viburnum, during its normal business hours, or at the department’s Elm Street Conference Center in Jefferson City. To review or obtain copies of the department’s files, please submit a Sunshine request at https://dnr.mo.gov/sunshinerequests.htm.
Comments on the draft permit modification are more effective if they point out legal or technical issues or provide information that is not in the record. Only the conditions that will be modified are open for public comment. All other conditions of the existing permit will remain in effect for the length of the permit, or until the department or Buick propose another permit modification. Please send written comments to Nathan Kraus, PE, Missouri Department of Natural Resources, Hazardous Waste Program, P.O. Box 176, Jefferson City, MO 65102-0176, or by email at nathan.kraus@dnr.mo.gov.
You may call or write the department at any time to request to have your name placed on Buick’s mailing list. By doing this, you will receive notice from the department or Buick on any major permitting and cleanup activities at the facility.
For more information about the draft Part I Permit modification, or to obtain a written copy of the draft permit modification for review, please contact Kraus by telephone at 573-751-3154 or 800-361-4827. Hearing- and speech-impaired individuals may reach Kraus through Relay Missouri at 800-735-2966.