MCI Maintenance & Engineering Base receives final hazardous waste permit to continue corrective action

JEFFERSON CITY, MO, AUG. 18, 2020 – The Missouri Department of Natural Resources issued a final hazardous waste permit to the City of Kansas City, allowing it to continue performing post-closure care and corrective-action activities at its MCI Maintenance & Engineering Base facility.

MCI Maintenance & Engineering Base is located at 9200 NW 112th St. in Kansas City, Missouri. The facility was previously operated by American Airlines, formerly Trans World Airlines Inc. American Airlines/TWA performed a variety of maintenance and overhauling activities on aircraft frames and engines at the site.

MCI Maintenance & Engineering Base currently is performing long-term groundwater monitoring and remediation activities at the site under a department-issued Missouri Hazardous Waste Management Facility Part I Permit and a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency-issued Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments Part II Permit. The facility submitted the application to renew and update its existing hazardous waste permits on Feb. 28. The existing Part I Permit expired Aug. 11, and the Part II Permit expires Sept. 13, 2020. Since MCI Maintenance & Engineering Base closed all permitted hazardous waste management units and no longer operates as a hazardous waste storage facility, this permit application is only for post-closure and corrective-action activities.

After the department conducted a thorough technical review of the permit application and provided opportunity for public comment, the department issued a final Part I Permit. The final Part I Permit requires MCI Maintenance & Engineering Base to continue implementing post-closure care and meeting corrective-action requirements, including groundwater remediation and monitoring to address releases from the facility to the environment. The permit contains contingent corrective-action conditions that may be exercised if there is a new release to the environment that requires corrective action or if the contaminated media pose a public or environmental health threat due to further migration.

EPA decided not to issue a Part II Permit, since EPA has no site-specific conditions for the facility, beyond those contained in the final Part I Permit, and Missouri is fully authorized for all permitting, post-closure, and corrective action activities at the facility. EPA will terminate the existing Part II Permit upon the issuance of the Part I Permit.

There were no comments submitted on the draft Part I Permit during the public comment period. Any parties adversely affected or aggrieved by the department’s decision to issue the final Part I Permit, or by specific conditions of the final Part I Permit, may be entitled to pursue an appeal before the Administrative Hearing Commission. To submit a decision appeal, a written petition must be filed by Sept. 14, 2020, a process more fully described in the final Part I Permit. 

The final Part I Permit and additional information are available online at dnr.mo.gov/env/hwp/permits/notices or at the Mid-Continent Library, 15616 E. Highway 24 in Independence. For more information about the final Part I Permit or to obtain a written copy of the final Part I Permit for review, please contact Tandi Edelman, Missouri Department of Natural Resources, Hazardous Waste Program, P.O. Box 176, Jefferson City, MO 65102-0176 by telephone at 573-751-3191 or 800-361-4827, or by email at andi.edelman@dnr.mo.gov. Hearing- and speech-impaired individuals may reach Tandi Edelman through Relay Missouri at 800-735-2966.

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