BASF Corp. Hannibal Plant

Background/ History

The 1,800-acre BASF Corp. site, known as the BASF Hannibal Plant, is located at 3150 Highway JJ, between Palmyra and Hannibal. The American Cyanamid Co., now known as Wyeth Holding Corp., purchased the property in 1965, and manufactured fertilizer products, which included nitric acid. In 1971, 12 acres in the north-central part of the facility were leased to Alpharma who manufactured animal feed intermediates. American Cyanamid began manufacturing insecticides and herbicides in 1977. BASF Corp. purchased the facility from American Cyanamid in 2000, and is the current owner and operator; however, Wyeth Holdings Corp. retains financial responsibility for certain historical environmental matters.

BASF currently manufactures agricultural chemicals, including herbicides and insecticides. A variety of hazardous wastes are produced as part of the facility operations. BASF stores and incinerates both off-specification or expired product returned through their product stewardship program and wastes created during the production processes. BASF stores the waste in three hazardous waste container storage areas and treats the waste in four hazardous waste incinerators. BASF is operating under a department-issued Missouri Hazardous Waste Management Facility Part 1 Permit, effective Feb. 21, 2025. The Part 1 Permit was originally issued with an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-issued Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments Part 2 Permit in 1990. EPA decided not to reissue the Part 2 Permit in 2025, since EPA had no site-specific conditions for the facility, beyond those contained in the Part 1 Permit, and Missouri is fully authorized for all permitting and corrective action activities at the facility.

Cleanup Summary

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 there is groundwater and soil contamination at the site. The groundwater contamination consists of 1,2-dichloroethane, 1,1-dichloroethylene, benzene, monochlorobenzene, tetrachloroethene, trichloroethylene, toluene and vinyl chloride. 

BASF performed a Corrective Measures Study to identify and evaluate possible remedial alternatives for the soil and groundwater contamination. The 2014 approved final remedy outlines the now operating groundwater pump and treatment system at the site. To ensure that contamination is not migrating off the BASF Corp. property, bi-annual groundwater monitoring and analysis are conducted. Wyeth retains responsibility for historical environmental contamination. In the event there is a new release to the environment, BASF will perform corrective action activities at the site under the same hazardous waste permit the facility is operating under.