General Motors Former Fairfax 1 Plant

Site Background

The General Motors Former Fairfax 1 Plant Site is located at 100 Kindelberger Road in Kansas City, Kansas. The site is in an industrial area known as the Fairfax District. The Fairfax I Plant consisted of several buildings, a tank farm, rail support, and drum storage areas. The buildings provided more than 2.2 million square feet of the covered work area. All buildings at the facility were razed in 1989. The western half and southeastern corner of the property have been redeveloped and are currently occupied by industrial facilities.

The original Site property covered more than 107 acres. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) accepted the western 16 acres (Tract 2) into the Voluntary Cleanup and Property Redevelopment Program (VCPRP) in 2006 and issued a No Further Action determination for this tract in 2007.

The rest of the property, Tract I, also entered into the VCPRP in 2001 but the Voluntary Agreement was terminated in 2010 due to General Motors Corporation's (GMC) bankruptcy. The bankruptcy court created the Revitalizing Auto Communities Environmental Response Trust (RACER Trust) to conduct, manage, and fund cleanup activities at 89 former GMC properties, including Tract I. The RACER Trust and KDHE signed a Consent Agreement and Final Order on November 21, 2001. An Environmental Use Control (12-EUC-0019) was established in 2012.

Multiple investigations have been conducted at the site between 1987 and 2012. These investigations found onsite soil and groundwater to be contaminated with light non-aqueous phase liquids; acetone; 1,2 dichloroethene; 2-butanone; tetrachloroethene; trichloroethene; benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene; methyl isobutyl ketone; arsenic; barium; cadmium; chromium; lead; and silver.

Interim Remedial Measures that have been conducted to address soil and groundwater contamination include a groundwater remedial system that operated from 1991 to 1994, and excavations in 2014 to remove a total of 15,870 cubic yards of impacted soil.

The Final Agency Decision Statement available below identifies and defines remedial actions taken to date, and recommends Monitored Natural Attenuation and Long-Term Monitoring.

Additional Information

For additional information, please contact:

John Cook, KDHE-BER Project Manager
Phone: 785-296-8986