Jeremy L. Dillon
RW Monitor
10/9/2015
Local officials are preparing for “a catastrophic event” should the smoldering fire at the Bridgeton Landfill reach the radioactive contamination at the adjacent West Lake Landfill near St. Louis, according to an emergency plan released this week. The plan, originally prepared in October 2014, outlines the steps local officials would need to take to ensure quick evacuations, as well as maintain jurisdictional authority should the fire reach the material. “This plan will establish policies and procedures that will allow St. Louis and St. Charles County to save lives in the event of a catastrophic event at the West Lake Landfill,” the plan says. “This plan established guidelines for conducting efficient, effective, coordinated emergency operations involving the use of all resources. It also addresses the legal issues that may become significant during a response to an incident at the West Lake Landfill.”
The West Lake Landfill cleanup project has taken on an added sense of urgency after recent reports revealed the site contains more radioactive waste closer to the nearby fire than previously thought. According to the emergency plan, a catastrophic event “will most likely occur with little or no warning.” The event could have “a potential for radioactive fallout to be released in a smoke plume and spread throughout the region.”
The suddenness and the magnitude of the event, according to the plan, could be outside the resources of the local government. “Depending upon the severity and magnitude of the situation, local resources may not be adequate to deal with every occurrence,” the plan says. “It may be necessary to request assistance through volunteer organizations, the private sector, mutual aid agreements, or state and federal sources. This situation could be multi-jurisdictional, thereby complicating command, control, and coordination efforts.”
The report was released by St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger, who cautioned that the plan “is not an indication of any imminent danger,” according to local news reports. “It is county government’s responsibility to protect the health, safety and well-being of all St. Louis County residents,” Stenger said in a statement. Republic Services, West Lake Landfill site operator and one of the site’s potential responsible parties, echoed Stenger’s call for emergency planning. “County officials and emergency managers have an obligation to plan for various scenarios, even very remote ones,” Republic spokesman Russ Knocke said in a statement. “The landfill is safe and intensively monitored.”
Recent reports released by Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster, though, caution that the site is not as under control as Republic suggests. According to the reports, contamination in groundwater outside the landfill perimeter has been identified, including radiological contamination detected in trees surrounding the site, while data indicate the smoldering fire has moved past the two rows of interceptor wells positioned at the neck of the landfill, closer to the radiologically impacted material. Koster plans to use the reports as evidence in his lawsuit against Republic Services, alleging negligent management of the landfill and that the company has violated state environmental laws. The lawsuit is set for trial in March 2016.
The EPA’s Superfund program took over responsibility for the West Lake Landfill 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 the fire located near the radioactive part of the landfill.
The EPA has also brought in the Army Corps of Engineers to assist on the project by providing technical review and oversight of the site owner’s cleanup plans and activities at the landfill, after public outcry called for a more experienced approach to the cleanup. In a recent analysis of the project, the Corps estimated that construction of an isolation barrier to separate the fire from the contamination would not start for at least 18 months.
