Background/ History
The Expert Management, Inc. (EMI) site is located at 3078 County Road 180 in Carthage, about 6.5 miles northeast of Joplin. EMI is the owner of property where its predecessors operated a chemicals and explosives manufacturing facility on approximately 583 acres of their approximate 1740 acre tract of land. The remaining 1157 acres of land was used as “buffer” land, a common practice in the explosives industry. E.I. DuPont de NeMours & Co. Inc. (DuPont) originally built the facility in 1901. In 1912, DuPont divested portions of its explosives operations and the Joplin plant became part of the newly formed Atlas Powder Co. Since that time, the site has operated as Atlas Powder Co., Atlas Chemical Industries, ICI and Atlas Environmental Services. The site was re-acquired by ICI Explosives USA Inc. in May 1990. In 1994, ICI built an incineration complex and magazine storage area to treat explosive/reactive wastes on part of the site that had not been developed or used to store explosives. At that time, the incineration complex was owned by ICI Explosives USA Inc., and operated by ICI Explosives Environmental Co., a subsidiary separate from ICI Explosives USA Inc. In 2001, ICI reorganized. ICI Explosives USA retained ownership of the chemicals and explosives manufacturing facility and changed its name to Expert Management Inc. ICI Explosives Environmental Co. became the owner of the incineration complex and changed the company name to EBV Explosives Environmental Co.
From 1910 to 2001, the facility manufactured industrial grade ammonium nitrate, weak nitric acid, ammonium nitrate-based emulsion explosives, trinitrotoluene (TNT), blasting agents and other chemicals in support of the explosives industry. The facility stopped producing nitroglycerin-based explosives in September 1993. All manufacturing ended in September 2001. The facility operated a surface impoundment (Atlas Pond), burning ground, drum storage building, acid mud treatment area and emulsion waste treatment sump. The five hazardous waste management units were operated under the “interim status” portions of the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA).
Cleanup Summary
All interim status regulated hazardous waste management units have gone through the closure process. The acid mud treatment areas were “clean closed.” The impoundment and burning ground were closed with waste in place. The drum storage building and the emulsion waste treatment sump had contaminants in the soil above background levels. Deed notations were made on the property for the drum storage building and the emulsion waste treatment sump. The Department accepted the closure certifications for all the regulated hazardous waste management units. EMI 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 at the impoundment and burning ground after closure. In order to protect potential buyers of the site, a Deed Notice, signed by the Jasper County Recorder of Deeds in 1990, was placed on the property in order to inform potential future buyers of the property that the impoundment was used to dilute and/or neutralize acidic waste waters.
EMI is subject to corrective action because they completed closure of the interim status hazardous waste management units after the effective date of the federal Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments. From 1989 to 2005, Atlas Powder Co., and later EMI, performed corrective action activities at the site under a 3008(h) Corrective Action Administrative Order on Consent with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Investigations confirmed that dinitrotoluene (DNT), nitrates, perchlorate, pesticides and metals were detected in soil, groundwater, and surface water at various locations at the facility. EMI is now performing corrective action activities at the site under a department-issued a Missouri Hazardous Waste Management Facility Part I Permit, effective Aug. 31, 2020. The permit requires EMI to conduct post-closure care of the impoundment and burning ground and implement corrective action activities at the site, which include monitoring groundwater and surface water, and composting explosives contaminated soil. The department and EPA also released 1157 acres of the property that were not affected by the facility operations from regulation. This reduced the area subject to the permit to 583 acres. In 2006, a Restrictive Covenant was placed on the land prohibiting residential use of the land and use of groundwater. A Notation to Deed Property placed on the site in 2007, states that EMI operated a bioremediation process for treatment of explosives impacted soils in the Soils Composting Building located on the property. EMI is currently implementing the final remedy for the soil and groundwater contamination. The facility property currently is inactive except for ongoing environmental cleanup and long-term monitoring activities.
