Background/ History
The Univar USA Springfield facility is located on about 7.8 acres at 220 S. Barnes Ave. in Springfield. Foremost-McKesson purchased the property in December 1981. McKesson Chemical Co., a division of Foremost-McKesson, Inc., began operating a chemical distribution center at this facility in 1982. In 1986, DSW Inc. acquired substantially all assets of McKesson Chemical Co. and then became a wholly owned subsidiary of Univar Corp. At the time of closing, DSW began doing business as Van Waters & Rogers, who was an existing chemical distribution division of Univar Corp. 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. Product was stored in 55-gallon drums or 350-gallon portable tanks, with the exception of two bulk storage tank farms. 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. Around January 1985, Van Waters built a hazardous waste storage pad, as specified in its department-issued hazardous waste permit, effective Sept. 1, 1984, to store this hazardous waste until it was shipped. This storage pad was never used. All wastes were accumulated within the actual transports, parked in the loading dock paved area, and were shipped off site within ten days.
Cleanup Summary
Van Waters closed the storage pad area in 1996. The department accepted Van Waters’ closure certification for the hazardous waste storage areas in 1996. Van Waters is not required to perform post-closure care because they “clean closed” the 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. Univar is subject to corrective action, but is not subject to issuance or reissuance of a hazardous waste permit, because their original permit was issued before the effective date of the federal Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments and did not contain any corrective action conditions. Initial investigations determined that the potential for a release of hazardous waste or hazardous constituents was unlikely and that no further action was deemed necessary at the time. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is currently working with Univar to close the site.
