Background/ History
The Solutia Inc., John F. Queeny Plant is located on 38 acres at 201 Russell Blvd. in St. Louis. The Queeny Plant was founded in 1901 under the name Monsanto Chemical Works. In 1933, Monsanto Chemical Works changed its name to Monsanto Chemical Co., then changed its name again in 1964 and became the Monsanto Co. In 1997, Monsanto’s Chemical divisions spun off and became Solutia.
The facility manufactured a variety of organic chemicals, including industrial chemicals, chemical intermediates, herbicides, pesticides, food additives, and pharmaceuticals. Hazardous waste was stored in tanks and drums before shipping off-site for disposal or treated in their incinerator. Monsanto, and later Solutia, operated under two hazardous waste permits, one issued by the department and one issued by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), both effective Nov. 8, 1989. The department issued the Missouri Hazardous Waste Management Facility Part I Permit. EPA issued the Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments Part II Permit.
Cleanup Summary
All drums containing hazardous waste were removed from the site and properly disposed and the hazardous waste incinerator, tank storage area, and container storage areas were closed between 1984 and 1996. The department accepted Monsanto’s closure certification for the hazardous waste management units in 1996. Monsanto was not required to perform post-closure care because they “clean closed” the hazardous waste areas. Operations at the facility ceased in 2006. Solutia removed all underground storage tanks from service and demolished the remaining structures on the property. SWH Investments purchased the Queeny Plant and assumed the environmental obligations for the property, effective June 13, 2008. Environmental Operations Inc., in affiliation with SWH Investments II, is assuming the responsibilities for the environmental obligations for the Queeny Plant in order to prepare the property for redevelopment for light industrial and commercial use.
In 2009, Environmental Operations Inc. entered into a Corrective Action Order on Consent with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), requiring them to investigate and clean up releases of hazardous waste and hazardous constituents to the environment at the facility resulting from present and past hazardous waste handling practices. Environmental Operations Inc. is currently conducting interim measures activities under Order. Initial investigations identified soil and groundwater contaminated with herbicides, pesticides, metals, volatile and semi-volatile organic compounds, and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and several areas that required further investigation. Ongoing interim measures include injecting oxygen releasing material into subsurface soil to clean up the soil and groundwater contamination, removing PCB-contaminated soils and on-going groundwater monitoring. Environmental Operations Inc. submitted a Corrective Measures Study report to the department and EPA in July 2016, which included Environmental Operations' preferred final remedy. EPA approved the final remedy in April 2018, which includes monitored natural attenuation and an environmental covenant containing activity and use limitations. The Environmental Covenant was signed by EPA and Environmental Operations and filed with the City of St. Louis Recorder of Deeds April 26, 2018. The covenant requires vapor barriers and a vapor intrusion mitigation system be evaluated for any future buildings proposed for construction on the property. In 2018, Environmental Operations sold part of the property to Faultless Laundry for constructing a new headquarters, which was built in 2019 and constructed with a vapor barrier and sub slab ventilation system.
