MEDIA CONTACT:
STEVEN ENGELHARDT (314) 504-4029
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: WEDNESDAY 3.30.11

Clay Applauds EPA Decision to Launch Carter Carburetor Clean-up
$27 Million Superfund Project Will Protect Children, Spur Neighborhood Development

-WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Wm. Lacy Clay (D) Missouri applauded today’s announcement by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to begin the long-awaited clean-up of the former Carter Carburetor Superfund site, on Grand Avenue in the City of St. Louis. 

“This is a great victory that I have fought for, for a long time," said the Congressman. “Cleaning up this highly contaminated site is my number one environmental priority in the City of St. Louis. I have been fighting to win this approval for years, and I want to thank President Obama and the leadership at EPA for acting decisively on my request.”

Mr. Clay added, “This clean-up is absolutely critical because so many children are potentially at- risk across the street at the Herbert Hoover Boys & Girls Club.  The neighborhood deserves a clean and safe environment to raise children, create new business opportunities and grow jobs.

And I am especially pleased that after years of delay, the responsible parties will foot the entire $27 million bill…not the taxpayers. 

Making polluters pay and restoring a safe site that supports neighborhood redevelopment is what environmental justice is all about.”

As described in the EPA Action Memorandum released today,

here is a summary of the selected removal action for the Carter Carburetor Site:

This removal action will involve thermally enhanced extraction of PCBs and TCE from subsurface soils.  The action will also involve the removal of PCBs in two on-site buildings. Institutional controls may be required at the site following completion of the removal action. The action will address four distinct contaminated areas:

1) The TCE Above-Ground Storage Tank Area (AST Area) – The action for this area is In-Situ Thermal Desorption and Vapor Extraction, a process which heats the contaminated soil and allows contaminants to be removed from the soil.  The TCE will then be collected and disposed of in an off-site facility. 
 
2) The Carter Building, Inc. (CBI) Building – The action for this area is demolition and off-site disposal.  After completing the remediation of asbestos-containing material, the CBI building will be demolished and building materials disposed based on PCB concentrations.
  
3) The Willco Building – Because PCB contamination in the Willco Building is relatively low, a thorough cleaning may be sufficient. If the cleaning does not reduce the contamination to below acceptable levels, the first and second floor slabs would be partially removed and replaced.

4) The Die Cast Area – The action for this area is In-Situ Thermal Desorption and Vapor Extraction.  This is the same process that will be used at the AST Area.  

 
 ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
 
An Administrative Record has been established for the Carter Carburetor Superfund Site.  The Administrative Record contains site-related documents and is available for review at the following locations:
 
Herbert Hoover Boys and Girls Club
2901 North Grand Avenue
St. Louis, Missouri 63107

St. Louis Public Library, Divoll Branch
4234 North Grand Avenue
St. Louis, Missouri 63107

EPA Region 7 Records Center
901 North 5th Street
Kansas City, Kansas 66101