Jeremy L. Dillon
RW Monitor
3/7/2014
Members of Missouri’s Congressional delegation are calling on the Environmental Protection Agency to relinquish control of the West Lake Landfill cleanup to the Army Corps of Engineers’ Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program. In a letter sent late last month to to EPA Region 7 Administrator Karl Brooks, the lawmakers cited the Corps’ previous success in the community as reason for the transfer. “As you know, the radiologically impacted material at the West Lake Landfill and the subsurface smoldering event at the Bridgeton Sanitary Landfill continue to be issues of great concern to us and our constituents in the greater St. Louis area,” the letter said. “Given the Corps’ expertise in this area and the local community’s faith in the Corps’ FUSRAP mission, we request that the EPA consider contracting directly with the Corps to handle any and all remediation needed at the site.” The letter was signed by Sens. Claire McCaskill (D) and Roy Blunt (R), and Reps. Reps William Lacy Clay (D) and Ann Wagner (R),
Brooks responded to the letter this week and indicated that the EPA is considering the Corps as a resource. “The delegation’s recommendation that EPA enlist the Corps of Engineers at West Lake is getting my serious consideration,” Brooks said in a statement. “As Commander of the St. Louis District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Col. Christopher Hall manages a top-notch staff, and I have always admired his professionalism. This agency works with the Corps at Superfund projects all across America. Region 7 is starting to identify specific needs for Corps expertise at West Lake, and I’ve been in touch with Col. Hall about that process,” Brooks said.
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.
