News Releases from Region 07

Settlement with EPA to Address TCE Contamination at Former Toastmaster Manufacturing Facility in Macon, Mo.

Environmental News

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(Lenexa, Kan., Nov. 23, 2015) - EPA Region 7 has reached a settlement with the current and former owners of the Toastmaster small appliance manufacturing facility in Macon, Mo., to address trichloroethylene (TCE) contamination on and around the property.

Spectrum Brands, Inc., the successor corporation to Toastmaster, Inc.; and Compton's LLC, which purchased the 10-acre facility in June 2012 and currently operates a retail outlet business in its main building, will be responsible for taking a series of actions at the site, according to an administrative settlement agreement and order on consent, filed by EPA in Lenexa, Kan.

Under the settlement, the two companies and EPA have agreed that Compton's LLC will perform work to address threats to public health, welfare or the environment posed by hazardous substances at the site, located at 704 S. Missouri Street in Macon. If Compton's LLC does not perform the work as agreed, Spectrum Brands, Inc., would retain joint and several liability for the work. The work will include:

EPA will oversee the work under approved plans to ensure that it is completed properly. The site was referred to EPA by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources in 2014.

EPA expects that the work outlined by the settlement could take a year or more to complete.

Exposure to TCE vapor may cause developmental effects such as congenital heart defects, central nervous system defects and small birth weight, among other health risks.