Background/ History
The Kansas City International Airport (MCI) Maintenance Base is located at 9200 N.W. 112th St. in Kansas City, Missouri. The facility originally covered about 250 acres leased from the City of Kansas City, Missouri. The facility is owned by the City of Kansas City and previously operated by American Airlines and Trans World Airlines Inc. (TWA). A variety of maintenance and overhauling activities performed on aircraft frames and engines have occurred at this facility since the facility’s original structures were built in 1956.
Due to the variety of processes necessary to clean, service and repair various aircraft, facility operations produced a variety of hazardous wastes. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) conducted an inspection in June 1985 and discovered that TWA was also operating two unpermitted, non-interim status hazardous waste surface impoundments. From 1972 through 1987, the facility used the two surface impoundments as a final step in treating wastewater produced during the maintenance activities. The primary constituents of concern in the wastewaters were hexavalent chromium, cyanide, oil and grease. The facility also operated a hazardous waste landfill (Ravine Area) from the early 1960s through 1983, to dispose of a combination of excavated soils, construction debris, industrial waste materials (including spent degreasing solvents and sandblasting oxides) paint strippings and possibly wastewater treatment sludges. TWA, the City of Kansas City, Missouri, and other contractors involved in airport construction projects also used another landfill during the late 1960s-early 1970s, which is located on property owned by the City of Kansas City Missouri, but was not part of the facility’s leased property. The second landfill was used for about five years, mainly for construction debris, demolition waste and disposal of plating/petroleum sludges cleaned out from some lagoons at the site. No records of landfill activities were maintained for this area, so an accurate estimate of the types and quantities of materials disposed of in this area is not possible.
Cleanup Summary
According to applicable federal and state hazardous waste laws and regulations, all hazardous waste treatment, storage and disposal facilities are required to investigate and clean up releases of hazardous waste to the environment at their facility resulting from present and past hazardous waste handling practices. In 1989, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a 3008(h) Corrective Action Administrative Order on Consent, requiring the facility to conduct an investigation and take corrective measures for the site. Both surface impoundments and landfills have since been closed and capped with uncontaminated soil. The facility is subject to the permitting requirements of the Missouri Hazardous Waste Management Law and federal Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments for post-closure care because hazardous waste remained in place after closure. The facility is also subject to corrective action because they completed closure after the effective date of the federal Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments.
The City of Kansas City is conducting post-closure and corrective action activities at the site under a department-issued Missouri Hazardous Waste Management Facility Part I Permit, effective Aug. 13, 2020. The approved final remedy for soil and groundwater contamination is already in place at the facility, which includes a passive interceptor trench between the surface impoundments and Todd Creek. Two Deed Restrictions were placed on parts of the property, one on the surface impoundments area and one for the Ravine Area, in order to inform potential future buyers of the property that these areas of the property have been used to manage hazardous waste and disturbance of the soil is restricted.
