Background/ History
The Boeing (MD-St. Louis) site, formerly the McDonnell Douglas Corp., operated an aerospace manufacturing facility at the Tract I location, located at McDonnell Douglas Boulevard and Banshee Road in Hazelwood. Tract 1 occupies about 210 acres next to the St. Louis Lambert International Airport. In 1941, McDonnell Douglas began manufacturing transport aircraft, aircraft components, space systems/missiles and combat aircraft, which included fabricating aluminum, titanium, composite structures and other airframe material; chemical processing; degreasing; painting; and aircraft assembly, fueling and flight testing.
A variety of hazardous wastes were produced as part of the manufacturing operations. McDonnell Douglas stored the waste in three hazardous waste container storage areas until they could be shipped to a hazardous waste disposal facility. The storage areas were permitted under two hazardous waste permits, one issued by the department and one issued by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), originally issued in 1984, and reissued in 1997 and 2017. The department issued the Missouri Hazardous Waste Management Facility Part I Permit. EPA issued the Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments Part II Permit. McDonnell Douglas also distilled spent solvents under a Resource Recovery Certification, issued by the department.
Several St. Louis Airport Site vicinity properties are also located in Tract 1, both within the area regulated by the permit and other non-permitted areas. These properties, along with 148 other properties in the St. Louis area, have been linked to both the St. Louis Airport Site and the Latty Avenue properties. In the 1960s, uranium refining waste from the St. Louis Airport Site was moved and stored at the Latty Avenue property. Residue blown from the haul trucks and surface water runoff from storing the waste deposited low-level radioactive contamination on the soil along the transportation route and surrounding properties.
Cleanup Summary
McDonnell Douglas merged with The Boeing Co. in August 1997. Boeing has since stopped storing hazardous waste at the facility. In 2001, Boeing sold part of Tract 1 to GKN Aerospace, who uses the site for developing and manufacturing aircraft structures, components and assemblies. In 2005, Boeing sold most of the remaining Tract 1 to the St. Louis Lambert International Airport, who uses part of the site as a runway protection zone and leases the rest of the site to tenants. Boeing closed all the hazardous waste storage units. The department accepted closure certifications for most of the units in 1993, 1995, 2001, and 2003. The remaining unit were referred to and are being addressed under corrective action.
Boeing is conducting corrective action activities under the same two hazardous waste permits the facility operated under. According to applicable state and federal hazardous waste laws and regulations, all hazardous waste treatment, storage and disposal facilities are required to investigate and clean up releases of hazardous waste and hazardous constituents to the environment at their facility resulting from present and past hazardous waste handling practices. Investigations concluded that soil and groundwater in Tract 1 are contaminated with volatile organic compounds, polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons, polychlorinated byphenols, metals and total petroleum hydrocarbons. The contamination is limited to the permitted facility. In 2006, contaminated soils were removed from five of the nine identified contaminated areas that exceeded risk levels. Boeing is currently implementing the approved final remedy for the remaining contamination. Groundwater monitoring wells are sampled twice a year and the results are being used to develop a long-term groundwater monitoring plan. The approved final remedy also includes property activity and use limitations in the form of enforceable Environmental Covenants, which will be executed by the department and each property owner and filed with the St. Louis County Recorder of Deeds.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers investigated the St. Louis Airport Site vicinity properties under the Formerly Used Sites Remedial Action Program. Sample results showed the properties in Tract 1 were not contaminated with radioactive contamination above levels requiring remediation.
