Background/ History
The West Star Environmental Inc. site is located at 1483 SW Highway 58 in Kingsville. From 1985 to 1987, PCB Disposal Systems processed polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) at the site. In 1987, the company began operating a hazardous waste fuel blending/storage facility and changed their name to AmerEco Environmental Services. A fire destroyed the facility on September 30, 1988. In 1991, Essex Waste Management Services Inc. purchased the property and operated a hazardous waste fuel blending/storage facility under two hazardous waste permits, one issued by the department and one issued by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The department issued the Missouri Hazardous Waste Management Facility Part I Permit, effective April 22, 1994. EPA issued the Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments Part II Permit, effective May 25, 1994. A second fire destroyed most of the hazardous waste management buildings on the site in 1996.
In 1999, West Star Environmental purchased the business assets and continued to operate a hazardous waste fuel blending/storage facility until 2001. In June 2002, the Hazardous Waste Management Commission ordered the facility to begin closing. Among other violations, West Star failed to maintain financial assurance for closure. State and federal law requires that all hazardous waste treatment, storage and disposal facilities show that they have resources set aside to pay for closure, post-closure, liability, and corrective action costs, depending on the type of facility. Although West Star had provided an insurance policy for financial assurance, the insurance company West Star used went into receivership before the department ordered the closure so no funds were available to remove any waste or decontaminate the facility. West Star was unable to provide an alternate financial assurance instrument. A buyer purchased the site for back taxes in 2003.
Cleanup Summary
After West Star failed to close, as ordered by the Hazardous Waste Management Commission, the department initiated the closure. At the beginning of the closure, the facility held approximately 603 containers, four tanks containing 17,369 gallons and two end dump trailers of hazardous waste. The department arranged for hazardous waste generators to remove 508 containers of their own waste. Another hazardous waste facility agreed to dispose of the wastes from three of the tanks without any cost to the State of Missouri. The same hazardous waste facility later agreed to take many of the containers if the laboratory fee was paid. The department arranged for transportation of the waste and payment of the laboratory fee as a supplemental environmental project with a different Missouri hazardous waste facility.
In 2003, the department placed the site on the Registry of Confirmed Abandoned or Uncontrolled Hazardous Waste Disposal Sites in Missouri, under the name AMERECO Environmental Services. In 2004, the department's Superfund Section, in coordination with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), arranged for the removal of the remaining waste through an EPA contractor. Although the department removed all waste from the site, an unknown amount of hazardous waste was released into the soil and groundwater at the site sometime when the facility was operating. In 2006, the department's Superfund Section sampled the site and concluded that the site did not warrant further action under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act. The department’s Permits section is currently working with the site’s current owner to complete final closure activities.
