Clay Announces $30 Million EPA Superfund Cleanup at former Carter Carburetor Site
MEDIA CONTACT:
STEVEN ENGELHARDT (314) 504-4029
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: MONDAY, 7.29.13
Clay Announces $30 Million EPA Superfund Cleanup
at former Carter Carburetor Site
Work to begin in August to remove highly contaminated eyesore,
transform dangerous site into new job opportunities
ST. LOUIS, MO – Congressman Wm. Lacy Clay (D) Missouri joined with officials from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Mayor Francis G. Slay to announce that the long-anticipated superfund cleanup settlement of the highly-contaminated former Carter Carburetor site in North St. Louis has been approved and work will begin next month on the $30 million project. “Because we stood together to demand environmental justice, we have achieved a great victory for this resilient and historic neighborhood,” said the Congressman. “We will transform a Brownfield into a potential green field for job creation. I want to thank the neighborhood associations and block units for your courage, your faith and your persistence as we fought to finally get this done.”
The Congressman also personally thanked President Obama for his personal support of the project. He said, “Five years ago, I sat down with then President-elect Obama, and I told him about this very dangerous situation in the middle of a historic neighborhood that was just across the street from a Boys & Girls Club that serves thousands of young people. I told him about the asbestos, the heavy metals, the PCBs, and the TCEs. I told him about the long-time residents of this neighborhood who have lived in fear of this awful eyesore for almost thirty years. President Obama understood immediately, because he had seen it all before…on the south side of Chicago. What happened here at Carter Carburetor is really just a symptom of a much larger problem that we see all over this country. Far too often, older, urban neighborhoods like this one…with mostly minority populations, are turned into toxic dumping grounds. That kind of environmental racism is shameful. This neighborhood deserves better, these children deserve better, and starting today…you are going to get it.”
“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.”
The Carter Carburetor 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.
The full cleanup of the site is projected to take up to four years to complete. Initial work to clear debris from buildings is expected to begin in August. Other steps of the cleanup will include building preparation, asbestos abatement, building demolition, and soil cleanup or removal.
To learn more about the EPA Carter Carburetor site Superfund cleanup, please click here.