Karl Herchenroeder
RW Monitor
2/5/2016

The U.S. Senate on Tuesday passed a bill that would transfer remediation authority over the mixed-use West Lake Landfill from the Environmental Protection Agency to the Army Corps of Engineers’ Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program.

Missouri Sens. Roy Blunt (R) and Claire McCaskill (D), who have criticized the EPA’s 25-year effort in cleaning up the St. Louis area landfill, introduced SB 2306.

“The families living near the West Lake landfill have made clear that they are fed up with the EPA’s long delay in implementing a plan to clean up the site,” Blunt said in a statement. “The EPA has lost credibility within the community, and left parents living in fear for their children’s health and safety. That is completely unacceptable.”

Missouri Representatives Wm. Lacy Clay (D) and Ann Wagner (R) have introduced companion legislation in the House.

“With the passage of this legislation today the Senate has demonstrated that that voices of the community around West Lake Landfill are being heard,” McCaskill said in Tuesday’s joint statement. “This plan isn’t a silver bullet, and will take far longer than we’d like to resolve these issues—but it’s a concrete, positive step forward. Now it’s up to the U.S. House to take up this issue so that we can get the legislation across the finish line.”

In an email Friday, EPA spokesman Ben Washburn explained that the agency is working to propose a final cleanup plan for the site by the end of 2016. He added that by all scientific accounts, the site does not currently represent any public-health risks.

“All scientifically valid data collected to date indicates that the site does not currently pose an off-site health risk to the surrounding community,” Washburn stated. “EPA is committed to proposing a final remedy for the site by the end of 2016.” 

The EPA’s Superfund program has overseen the landfill since 1990, and criticism has steadily increased in recent years, as residents have voiced concern over the proximity of the site’s radioactive waste to a smoldering fire at the adjacent Bridgeton Landfill, which has burned since 2010. In early January the EPA announced plans to build an isolation barrier, in collaboration with the USACE and landfill owner Republic Services, at the site to ensure the fire doesn’t come into contact with waste material.

EPA has entered into an interagency agreement with the USACE for technical support concerning the isolation barrier, as well as final remedy at the site. Washburn said the agency is negotiating technical and legal details with potentially responsible parties on the barrier.

In December, Boston Chemical Corp. and the Institute for Policy Studies released a report that claims fugitive radon gas is escaping the landfill, leading to elevated levels of lead in sediment and house dust in area suburbs. EPA is reviewing the findings, Washburn said. Additionally, in late January the Missouri Department of Natural Resources released an interim report stating that further radiological analysis is needed for two of its own soil samples taken from the landfill this past fall.

Washburn wrote that the state report identifies screening results from an area known as the buffer zone, which was previously identified as part of the Superfund site. 

“The 2008 Record of Decision required further action to be taken in those locations, and EPA expects to include appropriate actions for this area in its final remedy decision,” Washburn wrote. “Based on EPA’s evaluation of all of the site related data to date, including the screening level data from the buffer zone provided by (the Missouri Department of Natural Resources), the agency does not believe there is an unacceptable risk to outdoor workers in this area. EPA and the state have visited the (site’s) trucking company officials and the (potentially responsible parties) to review this interim information.”

He added that the EPA is coordinating with the state in deciding whether the buffer zone will be addressed under its surface fire prevention removal order, a plan EPA issued to prevent surface fires and migration of contaminants from area 1 and 2 at the site.

Ed Smith, with the Missouri Coalition for the Environment, welcomed Tuesday’s news as a positive step forward. He reeled off a list of community groups that have requested the EPA be taken off the job. Smith said he will join two groups in Washington next week in lobbying for support in the House: Just Moms STL and the Franciscan Sisters of Mary, both Missouri groups in support of USACE project ownership.

Republic Services could not be reached for comment.