Background/ History
The 18.5-acre CCP Composites US site is located at 1412 Knox St. in North Kansas City, Missouri. Cook Paint and Varnish Co. began operating at the site in 1913. By 1964, Cook Paint and Varnish occupied the entire area from 14th to 16th Ave. and from Knox St. to the railroad tracks between Jasper and Iron Streets. The facility has operated under the names Cook Paint, Cook Composites & Polymers Co. and CCP Composites US. Since 1990, CCP has operated as a joint venture with Total Composites Inc., which operates within the chemicals division of TOTAL, a French corporation. As a result of the acquisitions of PetroFina and Elf Aquitaine in 1999 and 2000, CCP is now associated with the TOTAL chemical component, ATOFINA. Operations continue at the facility under the name of CCP.
The facility historically manufactured specialty paints and coatings for the automotive industry, beverage can manufacturing and other industries. A research and development laboratory is also located on the property. Current operations include gel-coat manufacturing in the former paint factory, and esterification of isophthalic acids, with either ethylene or propylene glycol, in the resin plant. A byproduct of this operation is esterification water, which may be hazardous for the characteristic of ignitibility. Cook stored the hazardous waste in containers in four storage areas before shipping off-site for disposal. Two of the storage areas were temporary. Cook operated the remaining two hazardous waste storage areas under the “interim status” portions of the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). Cook also recovered spent solvents until 1990, under a Resource Recovery Certification, issued by the department. Due to market conditions, the unsaturated polyester resins production process and big batch gel coat operation are currently idle. The CCP corporate headquarters, including the research and development laboratory, are located at the southwest corner of the facility.
Cleanup Summary
Cook closed the two temporary storage and two interim storage areas in February 1986. The department accepted Cook’s closure certification for the hazardous waste container storage areas in 1987. Cook is not subject to the permitting requirements of the Missouri Hazardous Waste Management Law or federal Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments for post-closure care because they “clean closed” the interim status hazardous waste areas. CCP, formerly Cook, no longer stores hazardous waste at the site for more than 90 days. The containers are managed under generator storage requirements in 10 CSR 25-5.
Cook/CCP 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. Initial investigations identified possible soil and groundwater contamination and several areas that required further investigation. The primary constituents of concern are metals, volatile organic compounds, semi-volatile organic compounds and 1,4-dioxane. In December 2001, the department and CCP voluntarily entered into a Letter of Agreement, in an effort to simplify and streamline the corrective action process. Additional investigations confirmed the groundwater is contaminated with volatile organic compounds. CCP installed deep monitoring wells to determine the vertical extent of groundwater contamination at the site and is currently evaluating the well data. CCP will perform a Corrective Measures Study to identify and evaluate possible remedial alternatives for the groundwater contamination. 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.
