Background/ History
The Univar USA St. Louis facility is located at 8925 Seeger Industrial Drive in St. Louis, Berkeley, Missouri. McKesson Chemical Co. began operating a chemical distribution center at this facility in 1966. In 1987, Univar Corp., purchased the facility property. Van Waters & Rogers, a chemical distribution division of Univar Corp., uses the facility as a chemical warehousing and distribution center. In 2001, Royal Vopak consolidated Van Waters & Rogers and created Vopak USA Inc. In 2002, the chemical distribution activities of Royal Vopak were split and Vopak USA Inc. changed its name to Univar USA as a result, reestablishing it as an independent company.
Van Waters purchased chemical products in large quantities from manufacturers, repackaged those products in smaller quantities, and sold them to customers who used them to produce various goods and services. As part of their ChemCare® program, Van Waters picked up their customers spent wastes, which included halogenated and non-halogenated solvents and ignitable characteristic wastes, transported it to their facility, and temporarily stored it until transported to a recycler. Van Waters operated the a hazardous waste storage area under the “interim status” portions of the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA).
Cleanup Summary
Univar closed the hazardous waste storage area in 1996. Clean closure was not achieved, despite decontamination activities outlined in the approved closure plan. Several solvents and metals were detected in soil in the vicinity of the former hazardous waste storage area.
According to applicable state and federal hazardous waste laws and regulations, Univar 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. In November 2005, the department and Univar voluntarily entered into a Letter of Agreement, in an effort to simplify and streamline the corrective action process. Univar is currently performing a Corrective Measures Study to identify and evaluate possible remedial alternatives for the groundwater contamination. A groundwater monitoring program is currently in operation at the site. When the study is complete, the department and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will review the possible remedial measures and select the best remedy given site-specific considerations.
