Background/ History
The Boeing (MD-St. Charles) site, formerly the McDonnell Douglas Corp., operated an industrial hazardous waste incinerator at the Tract V location, on 222 acres located at 2600 N. Third St. in St. Charles. The site was originally a dairy and hog farm until 1956. Sterling Aluminum purchased the property and built an aluminum foundry. McDonnell-Douglas Corp. rented the building from Sterling Aluminum in 1963 and purchased the building and surrounding land in 1966. McDonnell-Douglas used the site to manufacture flight simulators; produce, refurbish and store missiles; manufacture circuit boards; and copper plating.
A variety of hazardous wastes were produced as part of the facility operations, including emulsified cutting oil, paint solids, solvent and paint wastes, wastewater treatment sludge, and acid and caustic wastewater. From 1984 to 1994, the facility operated a hazardous waste incinerator to treat on-site generated hazardous waste, such as spent solvents, waste paint, spent acid and alkaline solutions, waste oil and small amounts of Class C explosives. McDonnell-Douglas used either natural gas, waste jet fuel from missile refurbishing, or as fuel for the incinerator. McDonnell-Douglas also operated a wastewater treatment plant to treat acid, alkaline, and copper-contaminated wastes produced from the printed wiring board operations. McDonnell-Douglas operated the incinerator under a department-issued hazardous waste permit, effective Jan. 20, 1984. McDonnell-Douglas also distilled spent solvents under a Resource Recovery Certification, issued by the department.
Cleanup Summary
In 1994, McDonnell Douglas decided not to renew their hazardous waste permit and to close the hazardous waste incinerator. All incinerable hazardous waste has been shipped off site for disposal since July 1, 1994. The department accepted McDonnell Douglas’ closure certification for the incinerator and several buildings in 1995. McDonnell Douglas merged with The Boeing Co. in August 1997.
According to applicable state and federal hazardous waste laws and regulations, McDonnell Douglas/Boeing is 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. McDonnell Douglas/Boeing is subject to corrective action, but is not subject to issuance or reissuance of a hazardous waste permit, because the original permit was issued before the effective date of the federal Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments and did not contain any corrective action conditions. Initial investigations identified soil and groundwater contamination and several areas that required further investigation. Boeing has met with department staff to discuss voluntarily entering into a Letter of Agreement, in an effort to simplify and streamline the corrective action process.
