Friday, August 21, 2015

Demolition to Begin Aug. 24 at Carter Carburetor Superfund Site

 Release Date: 08/20/2015
Contact Information: Chris Whitley, 913-551-7394, whitley.christopher@epa.gov

Environmental News

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(Lenexa, Kan., Aug. 20, 2015) - Demolition and removal work at the Carter Carburetor Superfund Site in north St. Louis, Mo., is expected to get underway on Monday, August 24, EPA Region 7 announced today.

The CBI Building, a four-story structure at 2840 N. Spring Avenue, and the adjacent two-story WILLCO Building, will be torn down and hauled away by contractors and subcontractors hired by ACF Industries, Inc., one of the site’s potentially responsible parties. Structures and grounds at the site became contaminated with toxic polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), trichloroethylene (TCE), and asbestos over decades of use as a manufacturing plant for automotive components.

EPA Region 7 approved the work plans and health and safety plans for the demolition and removal work, which is projected to be finished around April 2016, weather permitting. The work plans and health and safety plans are specifically designed to minimize dust, protecting workers, as well as residents and visitors in surrounding neighborhoods. EPA will oversee all of the work, and will conduct air monitoring throughout the duration of the project to provide further health and safety protection for workers and the public.

After the CBI and WILLCO buildings are torn down and removed from the site, additional removal, on-site hazardous waste treatment, and cleanup work at the site will likely continue into late 2017.

The Carter Carburetor Corporation and Carter Automotive Products, both of which were subsidiaries of ACF Industries, manufactured automotive components at the site from the 1920s until operations closed down in 1984. The plant consisted of several multi-story manufacturing, testing, office, and warehouse buildings that contained more than 500,000 square feet of space.