Site Narrative:
The Sunflower Army Ammunitions Plant (SFAAP) was established in 1941 on 9,065 acres. The SFAAP was a Government-owned, contractor operated military installation and powder/propellant production plant. Munitions production occurred from 1943 to 1992. The site manufactured smokeless powder and single, double, and triple base propellants for small arms, cannons, and rockets. The Army considered the SFAAP excess in 1998. Federal early transfer laws allowed the Army land transfer prior to completion of the site environmental cleanup. Johnson County selected Sunflower Redevelopment, LLC (SRL) for the environmental site cleanup under a Consent Order (CO) with the state, dated July 2005. EPA proposed SFAAP for the Superfund National Priority List (NPL) in the Federal Register on February 13, 1995, and later withdrew the listing in 2006 in consideration of the Consent Order and other factors. EPA issued RCRA permit ID# KS3213820878 for the environmental site cleanup. Of the 9,065 acres that the Army transferred, about 5,342 acres require environmental remediation and/or munitions response actions. The redevelopment of SFAAP complies with the Johnson County Comprehensive Land Use Plan (July 23, 1998) and uses residential cleanup standards, per the CO for most of the site.
Although cleanup under the CO is site-wide, the site is categorized into subsites that are the RCRA Solid Waste Management Units (SWMUs # 1- 70) and Areas of Concern (AOCs #1 - 24). The industrial processes at SFAAP involved components for the final propellant. There are SWMUs and AOCs to address the production lines that mixed, washed, dried, finished, packed, and stored the final propellant; and the various support facilities involved with the reuse and recovery of materials, disposal of used munitions, and support for the operation of the base at large. The site is centered on a bedrock high with varied groundwater depth and flow direction across the site. See individual SWMUs and AOCs for area-specific contaminants and other details.
The Army performed environmental cleanup work at the site until the 2005 CO when SRL took over the cleanup. The CO also addresses the cleanup by SRL for asbestos, lead base paint, and pesticides (termicides) soil contamination. SRL reported at Restoration Advisory Board (RAB) meeting on August 3, 2011 that about 673,000 tons of asbestos/pesticide were excavated and disposed. SRL initiated a work suspension for site cleanup (July 2011) and suspension of the public/community based RAB meetings in August 2011. Monthly Technical Review Meetings with SRL, KDHE, the Army, and EPA occurred from October 2012 to May 2013 to discuss SRL plans for future site cleanup.
The U. S. Army assumed responsibility for cleanup of RCRA related areas at the site in 2013 with the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE) overseeing the cleanup. A meeting in March 2016 with KDHE discussed the path forward regarding progression of cleanup from north to south, with sites involved with munitions addressed first. Rind soil sampling in areas with potential munitions began in April 2016 and ended in early 2017. Munitions cleanup and interior sewer removal began in the summer 2016 and is still in progress. MEC work for exterior sewers started in July 2017 and is still in progress. The Army had stakeholder meetings in April 2017 and May 2018 to update all partners in the progress of the remediation. A preliminary RAB was held in May 2018 to determine if there was public interest in the meeting process. Future RABs are uncertain at this time.
The primary early transfer documents include:
CERCLA 120 (h)
Finding of Suitability for Early Transfer for the Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant signed May 11, 2005
Army/Developer Contract (a.k.a. Remediation Agreement), effective date August 3, 2005
Consent Order No. 05-E-0111, KDHE signed on July 29, 2005 |