Background/ History
Curia Missouri Inc. site is located on approximately 72 acres at 2460 W. Bennett St. in Springfield, Missouri. The facility was operated as a chemical manufacturing facility since 1949, under the names Hoffman-Taff Chemical Co., Syntex Agribusiness Inc., Clariant LSM, Archimica Inc. and Euticals Inc. Before 1988, the facility occupied about 7.4 acres. Over the years the facility expanded and acquired additional property south and east of Jordan and Wilson creeks. Some substances produced at the facility over the years includes food additives, alcohol denaturants, disinfectants, herbicides and pharmaceutical products. Curia currently operates a pharmaceutical chemical manufacturing facility on the site.
Volatile organic compounds were often used as raw materials at the facility, including methylene chloride, toluene, xylene, 1,2-dichloroethane, methanol, benzene and chloroform. A by-product of some of the production lines was 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin. Around 1960, Hoffman-Taff built a hazardous waste surface impoundment to collect waste discharged through underground pipes from the production buildings. From about 1960 through 1965, the system of underground pipes was expanded to connect all buildings, the laboratory and a pilot plant. The system led to two common north-south underground clay pipes. One pipe emptied directly into the surface impoundment and one emptied into a brick-lined settling pit before discharging into the same surface impoundment. After 1965, an aeration basin was built and wastes were pumped from the surface impoundment and settling pit into the aeration basin before discharging to the City of Springfield sewer and publicly-owned treatment works.
Cleanup Summary
Syntex acquired the facility from Hoffman-Taff in late 1969. In 1975, before regulatory requirements for closure were established, Syntex closed the southern half of the surface impoundment. The north half of the surface impoundment was used until March 1982. In 1983, Syntex began investigating possible groundwater contamination in conjunction with the closure and remediation of the northern half of the surface impoundment, which was closed according to applicable regulatory requirements in 1985. The settling pit and aeration basin were decommissioned and decontaminated in 1984. The department accepted Syntex’s closure report and certification for the former surface impoundment in 1990. The facility is subject to the permitting requirements of the Missouri Hazardous Waste Management Law and federal Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments to RCRA for long-term monitoring and maintenance activities (post-closure care) because hazardous waste remained in place after closure. The facility is also subject to corrective action because they completed closure after the effective date of the federal Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments. Curia is conducting post-closure and corrective action activities at the site under a department-issued Missouri Hazardous Waste Management Facility Part I Permit.
According to applicable federal and state hazardous waste laws and regulations, all hazardous waste treatment, storage and disposal facilities are required to investigate and clean up releases of hazardous waste to the environment at their facility resulting from present and past hazardous waste handling practices. Investigations concluded that soil and groundwater was contaminated at the facility. A Deed Notice, signed by the Greene County Recorder of Deeds in 1990, was placed on the property in order to inform potential future buyers of the property that the former surface impoundment has been used to manage hazardous waste. The department placed the site on the Registry of Confirmed Abandoned or Uncontrolled Hazardous Waste Disposal Sites in Missouri, under the name Syntex. The department and Curia executed an Environmental Covenants for the facility property as an additional assurance that unacceptable exposure to any residual contamination would not occur. The covenants was filed with the Greene County Recorder of Deeds on Oct. 28, 2024. The covenant restricts the facility property to non-residential use and prohibits disturbing the soil and drilling or using shallow groundwater for any purpose. The permit requires Curia to implement the approved final remedy for on-site groundwater and soil contamination. Contaminated groundwater is pumped and treated on site. The currently active portion of the facility occupies about seven acres, with the remaining acreage undeveloped. Curia does not store hazardous waste at the site for more than 90 days. The containers are managed under generator storage requirements in 10 CSR 25-5.
