LAS VEGAS — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers could add the Environmental Protection Agency’s West Lake Landfill Superfund site to its Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program under the next administration, FUSRAP National Program Manager Nicki Fatherly said Thursday.
Lawmakers have been calling for FUSRAP to replace EPA at the troubled Missouri landfill, where residents have long criticized the agency’s 25-year effort to clean the contaminated site.
“I expect as we go into the new year, as we get inside the new administration, that could get picked up,” Fatherly said here at the ExchangeMonitor’s 2016 RadWaste Summit. “That could be a potential for an add, but I don’t know.”
She added that the Corps is waiting to see what unfolds in the House. The U.S. Senate in February passed legislation that would transfer cleanup authority from EPA to FUSRAP, but companion legislation remains in the House.
FUSRAP Director of Civil Works Steven Stockton in June wrote a letter to Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, saying the Corps is prepared to take over for EPA, but that FUSRAP could not clean up the landfill any faster than its federal counterpart.
“The FUSRAP program would only address the cleanup of low level radiological material at the site, which is only one issue of concern at the landfill,” Stockton wrote. “Transferring the site to FUSRAP would subject the site to the limitations of the FUSRAP budget and appropriations process, and its necessary prioritization with respect to the sites currently competing for the program’s limited appropriations.”
FUSRAP was initiated in 1974 to identify and clean up or control sites contaminated by the nation’s early atomic weapons and energy programs during the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. The program includes 25 active sites. The West Lake Landfill contains waste from the former uranium production facility at Mallinckrodt Chemical Works in St. Louis.
When asked about her reaction to residents calling to substitute FUSRAP for EPA at West Lake, Fatherly said: “It’s nice to be recognized for FUSRAP and the work we’ve done for the community and that the public feels confidence in the work we do. I’ve been doing this long enough that I’m probably no longer surprised now with how these sites can evolve. You know, I understand the public’s basically looking to try and move forward with the West Lake project as best they can, but in general, we’re all the federal government, and so we need to kind of work in support of EPA and what they need until we’re either directed directly (to take over) or do otherwise.”
Fatherly also said she’s confident that three FUSRAP sites nearing completion of management and cleanup could be transferred to Department of Energy’s Office of Legacy Management as soon as 2018.
“This is going to be very exciting for us,” Fatherly said.
The sites are the Shpack Landfill in Norton/Attleboro, Mass.; the Combustion Engineering Site in Windsor, Conn.; and Linde Air Products in Tonawanda, N.Y.
