By the end of the summer, the long-awaited $30 million environmental cleanup of the former Carter Carburetor building in North St. Louis will be underway, officials announced today at the Herbert Hoover Boys & Girls Club, 2901 North Grand Ave., which is adjacent to the building.
For more than 25 years, the Carter Carburetor building has laid dormant, in the sense that little more than drug transactions and copper theft have “ruled the day,” said Flint Fowler, president of the Boys & Girls Club.
“This building has been active in another way,” Flint said. “It has drained this community of hope, and it signals to this community that, ‘You don’t matter.’ It has systematically damaged the psyche of our young people.”
EPA Region 7 announced today that it has reached settlement agreements with two corporations, ACF Industries, Inc.; and Carter Building Incorporated (CBI), to pay for the estimated $30 to $40 million cleanup costs.
The Carter Carburetor Superfund Site, a 10-acre complex of buildings and structures covering parts of two city blocks at 2800 to 2840 North Spring Avenue, is a former gasoline and diesel carburetor manufacturing plant that operated from 1915 until 1984. Investigations have found unacceptable levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), trichloroethylene (TCE), and asbestos at the site.
“What happened here is really just a symptom of a much larger problem that we see all over this country,” said U.S. Rep. William Lacy Clay Jr. “Far too often older urban neighborhoods with mostly minority populations are turned into toxic dumping grounds. That environmental racism is shameful, and it has been going on for decades.”
EPA Region 7 engaged in long-term legal negotiations with Carter Building Incorporated (CBI), which previously owned the main manufacturing building and currently owns the Willco Building at the site; and ACF Industries, Inc., whose subsidiaries Carter Carburetor Corporation and Carter Automotive Products manufactured carburetors for gasoline- and diesel-powered engines at the site.
This month, the EPA finally inked legal agreements with the two entities. ACF Industries, Inc., of St. Charles, Mo., will remove asbestos materials from the four-story CBI Building, demolish and remove that same building, excavate and remove the PCB-contaminated soil from the Die Cast Area portion of the site, conduct on-site treatment of TCE-contaminated soils at a former above-ground storage tank area, and follow up with environmental sampling to confirm the effectiveness of the cleanup activities.
The U.S. Department of Justice approved the ACF settlement on July 18. Through August 18, 2013, the public may submit comments on the costs associated with the cleanup and demolition of the Carter building. Comments can be submitted online at https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2013/07/18/2013-17304/proposed-administrative-cost-recovery-settlement-under-the-comprehensive-environmental-response
Last week, the U.S. Department of Justice approved a separate settlement with Carter Building Incorporated, and a similar Federal Register notice for comments is expected to be published soon. The CBI agreement provides for the removal of asbestos materials from the Willco Building, and either the subsequent demolition and removal of the same building or a cleanup of PCBs from the building.
“A new day has dawned for North St. Louis,” EPA Regional Administrator Karl Brooks said. “Today marks the beginning of the end for a longtime hazard and community eyesore, and an exciting milestone for EPA, elected officials and community members who have worked together to clean up and revitalize an historic part of this great city.”
Copies of the proposed settlements with ACF Industries, Inc., and Carter Building Incorporated are available online at: http://www.epa.gov/region7/cleanup/carter_carburetor/index.htm
Brooks said the exact date for full completion of the cleanup work at the Carter Carburetor Site cannot be determined immediately, but initial work to clear debris from buildings at the site is expected to begin within the next month. ACF Industries, Inc., and Carter Building Incorporated must submit work plans and designs to EPA for review and approval, which could take four to six months. Other steps of the cleanup, including building preparation, asbestos abatement, building demolition, and soil cleanup or removal, will occur over a period of several months after the work plans and designs are approved.
Flint said he will work to keep the community positive and looking towards a brighter future.
“I believe today’s event represents one of the most significant times in this neighborhood’s history,” Fowler said, “probably since May 8, 1966 when the St. Louis Cardinals played their final game at Sportsman Park.”
