The Ellisville Superfund Site sits in St. Louis County, Missouri, and covers three separate properties where hazardous waste was illegally dumped from the 1960s through the early 1980s. The EPA (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) placed the site on the NPL (National Priorities List) in 1983 and divided it into four operable units to tackle different cleanup challenges. Overall physical construction was completed on September 30, 1997, and the site reached sitewide ready-for-anticipated-reuse status on June 26, 2006.
The site holds 66 contaminants of concern across two main operable units. The Rosalie unit contains dioxin, chlorinated solvents such as tetrachloroethene and trichloroethene, aromatic compounds like benzene and toluene, phthalates, phenols, and PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) in soil and solid waste. The Bliss and Non-Dioxin unit contains many of the same chemicals plus chloroform, hexane, naphthalene, and zinc in soil, debris, and solid waste. Health risks include cancer and non-cancer effects tied to ingesting or touching contaminated soils at the Bliss Property. Based on current conditions, no one is being exposed to contamination at unacceptable levels.
Cleanup actions have varied by property. At the Rosalie property, over 200 drums were excavated after buried drums were found in 1980, and remedial action was completed in 1986. At the Bliss property, 24,478 tons of dioxin-contaminated soil were removed and incinerated between 1996 and 2015, with an additional removal finished in March 2015. An environmental covenant placed on the Bliss property in March 2015 bars occupied residential use and soil disturbance in designated areas. At the Callahan property, 1,205 drums were removed between 1981 and 1982, another 2,056.74 tons of contaminated soil were excavated in 2012, and the property was deleted from the NPL on July 17, 2017. Groundwater monitoring at the Bliss property, using wells installed in August and September 2022, will continue with semi-annual sampling through 2027 to support a risk assessment update. A new feasibility study for the Bliss and Non-Dioxin unit began in 2025 and is expected to finish between December 2027 and February 2028.
Community members can stay informed by joining the site mailing list. No public meetings or comment periods are currently scheduled. Two support options are available. The TASC (Technical Assistance Services for Communities) program provides free help from independent scientists and engineers who can explain EPA actions and environmental science. TAG (Technical Assistance Grant) funding of up to $50,000 is available to qualified community groups to hire their own technical advisor. Public records for the site can be reviewed at the St. Louis County Library Daniel Boone Branch at 300 Clarkson Road in Ellisville.
