Omnium LLC

Background/ History

The Omnium site, formerly Farmland Industries Inc. Chemical Plant, is located at 1417 S.W. Lower Lake Road in St. Joseph. In the 1960s Farmland began manufacturing and packaging a variety of pesticides, herbicides, insecticides, and fungicides in liquid, powder, granular, and semisolid forms at the site. Ownership of the company later changed to Omnium LLC and the same products were manufactured at the facility.

A variety of hazardous wastes were produced as part of the facility operations. Farmland stored the hazardous waste in drums before shipping off-site for disposal. Farmland stored the hazardous waste in two hazardous waste storage areas, operated under the “interim status” portions of the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA).

Cleanup Summary

Farmland closed the hazardous waste storage drum areas in 1995. Sampling conducted during closure confirmed that 2,4-D contamination remained in the concrete pads above background but below health-based levels in the two areas. The department accepted Farmland’s closure certification for the hazardous waste container storage areas in 1996. A Deed Notice, signed by the Buchanan County Recorder of Deeds in 1997 and amended in 2005, was placed on the property in order to inform potential future buyers of the property that portions of the property had been used to manage hazardous waste.