Jeremy L. Dillon
RW Monitor
3/28/2014
The Environmental Protection Agency has reached out to the Army Corps of Engineers to help in the construction of an isolation barrier at the West Lake Landfill near St. Louis, according to a letter from EPA Region 7 Administrator Karl Brooks to Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster late last week. Koster, along with other state officials and members of Missouri’s Congressional delegation, have recently called on the EPA to transfer the site’s cleanup to the Corps’ Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program due to its previous successes in cleaning up radioactively contaminated sites within the state. “The EPA intends soon to conclude an agreement with the United States Army Corps of Engineers to enlist Corps construction expertise for the isolation barrier to separate West Lake from the SSE,” Brooks wrote. “I will keep you and the Missouri Department of Natural Resources closely informed about the status of this project.”
According to EPA spokesman Chris Whitley, news announcing a formal agreement with the Corps could come within the next few weeks. “We believe that within the very near future, probably within the next couple of weeks, we should have a formal agreement that outlines the relationship we will have with the Corps of Engineers, and part of that I think will be foretelling of how soon you will see the isolation barrier go in,” Whitley said. Koster welcomed the news of an upcoming agreement. “We appreciate Administrator Brooks’s quick response and EPA’s commitment to isolate any radiological material from the smoldering event at the Bridgeton Landfill,” Koster said. “We hope to hear soon that EPA has finalized its agreement with the Corps of Engineers and is ready to announce a construction schedule for the isolation barrier.”
Site Contains More Waste Than Previously Thought
The project has taken on an added sense of urgency after recent reports revealed that the site contains more radioactive waste closer to a smoldering fire than previously thought. The news prompted a letter from Koster that asked the EPA to accelerate its surveying and engineering efforts to enable a prompt construction of an isolation barrier to prevent the fire from spreading to the radioactive waste, as well as calling on the EPA to work with the Corps on the project. “Over six months have passed, yet construction of the barrier still has not begun,” Koster’s March 18 letter said. “Although we acknowledge that essential surveying is still underway, the ongoing site testing need not prevent construction from commencing, at least in part.”
Part of the problem with the speed of the surveying efforts involves the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) requirements that cannot be accelerated. “It has to go at its own pace, but indeed we understand the urgency of the situation as it relates to the sub-surface smoldering,” Whitley said. “That’s why as a primary task right now we are pursuing the design and placement of the isolation barrier, and we are working with the attorney general to make sure that happens.”
The EPA sees Koster’s interest in the cleanup as helpful to its efforts. “His interests and our interests are really the same,” Whitley said. “What he is doing on behalf of the state of Missouri to make sure the responsible parties do what needs to be done there actually helps us leverage what we need to compel them to do as well. It’s a complimentary role that we share with the state attorney general.”
Currently, the West Lake Landfill is under the supervision of the EPA’s Superfund program, which took over responsibility for the site in 1990. The EPA is conducting an engineering survey and groundwater analysis of the site to determine the best location to construct an isolation barrier to prevent the spread of a smoldering fire located near the radioactive part of the landfill. The state legislature considered passing a resolution calling on the EPA to pass control to the Corps back in January, mainly due to frustrations stemming from the pace of the cleanup and fear of a public health threat from the smoldering event.