Radioactive waste material at the West Lake Landfill in Missouri is located closer to a nearby, underground fire than previously thought, according to the latest findings from the Environmental Protection Agency.
The agency provided a landfill update addressing previously unidentified waste late last week, which prompted criticism and concern from both government officials and local residents. Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster in a statement blasted the agency, saying it “has never had a clear picture of the extent of contamination at the West Lake landfill, and it is deeply concerning that it took EPA so long to figure that out.”
“The new data places the radioactive waste hundreds of feet further south than previously known, closer to the still-burning underground fire,” Koster wrote. “And EPA has yet to reveal its plan for preventing the fire from ever reaching the waste. It is long past time for the federal government to transfer responsibility of the site to the Army Corps for swift and certain remedial action.”
The U.S. Senate in February passed legislation that would transfer remediation authority over the mixed-use landfill from the EPA to the Army Corps of Engineers’ Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program. Missouri Sens. Roy Blunt (R) and Claire McCaskill (D) introduced that bill, while Rep. Lacy Clay (D) has introduced companion legislation in the House. Both lawmakers and residents have criticized the pace and competency of EPA’s 25-year effort in cleaning the St. Louis area landfill.
Though the EPA noted in the report that the location of the waste material is new information, it said health risks have not increased, for residents or landfill workers. Concerns over the smoldering fire at the adjacent Bridgeton Landfill, the report continued, are being addressed through the agency’s isolation barrier plan. That plan was announced in December in collaboration with the Army Corps and landfill owner Republic Services.
“For the community surrounding the site, there are no significant health risks posed by the radiological wastes contained at the West Lake Landfill,” the report states.
Dawn Chapman, who has led a residents’ effort calling for the EPA’s removal from the project, said in a telephone interview Monday that the community is “trying not to scream, ‘I told you so.’” The location of the waste material, she said, should have been determined decades ago. To the EPA response that the material was “unexpected,” Chapman said, “I call bull—-.”
“This stuff has been sitting on the surface of this landfill for 40 years, and they’ve made no effort to touch it or do anything with it,” Chapman said.
The site contains World War II-era waste that a local contractor for a now-defunct uranium processing company, Cotter Corp., illegally dumped in 1973. The EPA’s Superfund program has overseen the landfill since 1990.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported this week that Chapman’s group, Just Moms STL, met with EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy on Wednesday to discuss the possibility of relocating residents who live near the Bridgeton fire. McCarthy took to Twitter after the meeting, saying: “Thanks @Justmomsstl for the productive conversation and for meeting with me today. I look forward to our continued dialog.”
According to the findings, the newly discovered material is located beneath a portion of the Bridgeton Landfill known as Muffin Top. The smoldering fire remains in the South Quarry, hundreds of feet from the material, according to the report, and “there is no rapid movement of the (smoldering fire) towards the North Quarry or the (radiologically-impacted material) in OU-1.”
EPA officials could not be reached for comment.
EPA plans to install a non-combustible cover in OU- 1, Areas 1 and 2, where radiologically impacted material is known to be at or near the surface. The work will involve cutting and laying in place brush, covering the brush with a permeable geotextile cover, and installing 8 inches of crushed rock on top of that cover. The work is expected to be completed this spring, according to the report.
Ed Smith, with the Missouri Coalition for the Environment, said over the phone Monday that the latest results are further evidence that EPA should be testing the entirety of the 200-acre Superfund site for contaminated material, which his group requested more than a year ago.
“For the EPA to say that this area is free of radioactivity without testing it is a very big problem and doesn’t acknowledge the history of this site,” Smith said. “There will be no barrier until the EPA completely tests the North Quarry as a grid, and that’s what we’ve been asking for for over a year. It’s unreasonable that the EPA has denied that request given the continued finding of radioactivity in areas they previously didn’t expect to find it.”
