Background/ History
The Doe Run Resource Company’s Viburnum facility is located on about 250 acres at 500 Casteel Dr. in Viburnum. The Doe Run Viburnum facility, historically referred to as the Viburnum Mine/Mill Facility #28, is a non-operating lead mine with a collection of lead mine tailings piles. The site is located on property owned and managed by Doe Run. The mine tailings piles are permitted by the Department, under the Missouri Metallic Minerals Waste Management Act, Permit MM-008.
Cleanup Summary
Doe Run is currently performing removals of lead-contaminated soils, sediments, and other lead-impacted materials (remediation waste) from properties and child high-use areas within the Viburnum Trend Haul Roads, City of Viburnum (St. Joe Minerals) and Middlebrook Railhead Superfund sites. These activities are regulated under Administrative Orders, issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). Doe Run is also removing lead-contaminated soils from residences and child high-use areas near the Buick Smelter, also owned and operated by Doe Run, as a part of its state’s Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)-equivalent corrective action activities.
Doe Run is staging, treating and disposing the remediation waste at the Doe Run Viburnum facility under a Department-issued Remedial Action Plan (RAP), issued Feb. 20, 2019. The RAP is needed because some of the remediation waste from the ongoing removals may be classified as hazardous waste. Under state and federal regulations, lead-contaminated waste that fails the Toxicity Characteristics Leaching Procedure is classified as hazardous waste (D008). Doe Run samples and analyzes the remediation waste and, if found to be nonhazardous for lead, it is placed directly onto the lead tailings piles. If the remediation waste fails the test for lead, it is treated until it meets applicable Land Disposal Restriction standards and then placed on the tailings piles. The nonhazardous and treated waste serves as a protective soil cap, to isolate the lead-contaminated tailings from the environment and promote plant growth.
