JEFFERSON CITY, MO, SEPT. 30, 2020 – The Missouri Department of Natural Resources has issued a final hazardous waste permit for the EaglePicher Technologies facility. The permit includes the approved final remedy for on-site soil, sediment, surface water and groundwater contamination.
EaglePicher operates a commercial manufacturing facility at the site for various types of batteries and other power supplies for defense and aerospace applications. A variety of hazardous wastes were produced by the facility’s manufacturing processes. Currently, hazardous wastes are shipped off-site for processing and/or disposal at other permitted facilities. EaglePicher also operated several hazardous waste container storage areas, as well as two hazardous waste surface impoundments; one was for mercury-contaminated wastewater and one for lead-contaminated wastewater
EaglePicher has been performing long-term monitoring and maintenance activities, and conducting corrective-action investigations and remediation activities at the site under a department-issued Missouri Hazardous Waste Management Facility Part I Permit. On March 29, 2019, EaglePicher submitted a permit application to the department to renew and update its existing hazardous waste permits. The department and EaglePicher worked together to prepare a Statement of Basis with a suitable proposed final remedy for removing, controlling or treating the contamination that presented an unacceptable risk, following the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s RCRA FIRST guidelines without the need for a formal Corrective Measures Study Report. The Statement of Basis summarizes the remedial alternatives and the department’s basis of support for the proposed final remedy.
The department approved the proposed final remedy and issued a final Part I Permit after it conducted a thorough technical review of the permit application, EaglePicher’s preferred final remedy and other remedial alternatives, and after providing an opportunity for public comment. The final permit requires the company to continue post-closure care and groundwater monitoring of the former lead waste impoundment until 2053. The Part I Permit outlines the approved final remedy, which includes limitations on property activity and use that were established through an enforceable Environmental Covenant.
EPA decided not to issue a Part II Permit, since the agency has no site-specific conditions for the facility and Missouri is fully authorized for all permitting, post-closure and corrective-action activities at the facility. EPA will terminate the existing Part II Permit upon the issuance of the Part I Permit.
There were no comments made on the proposed final remedy or draft Part I Permit during the public comment period. Any parties adversely affected or aggrieved by department’s decision to approve the proposed final remedy and issue the final Part I Permit, or by specific conditions of the final Part I Permit, may be entitled to pursue an appeal before the Administrative Hearing Commission by filing a written petition by Oct.30, 2020 The appeal process is more fully described in the final Part I Permit.
The final Part I Permit and additional information are available online at dnr.mo.gov/env/hwp/permits/notices or at the Joplin Public Library, 1901 E. 20th St. in Joplin. For more information about the final Part I Permit or to obtain a written copy of the final Part I Permit for review, please contact Abby Sawyer, Missouri Department of Natural Resources, Waste Management Program, P.O. Box 176, Jefferson City, MO 65102-0176, by telephone at 573-526-5397 or 800-361-4827, or by email at abby.sawyer@dnr.mo.gov. Hearing- and speech-impaired individuals may reach Sawyer through Relay Missouri at 800-735-2966.