BRIDGETON, Mo. – Missouri’s federal delegation is leading an effort to ask the Army Corps of Engineers to take over cleanup of the West Lake Landfill. Currently, the Environmental Protection Agency is overseeing the landfill. In past months, state lawmakers have come forward opposing the administrative switch.
U.S. Senators Roy Blunt and Claire McCaskill have filed legislation to transfer the regulatory jurisdiction of the landfill from the EPA to the corp, in order to see it taken over by the Formerly Utilities Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP).
“The EPA’s unacceptable delay in implementing a solution for the West Lake landfill has destroyed its credibility and it is time to change course,” said Blunt. “The Corps has the knowledge, experience, and confidence of the families living near the site. Transferring clean up efforts to its control will help move the process forward and finally give these families the peace of mind they deserve. No parent should have to raise their child in an environment where they fear for their health and safety.”
McCaskill added, “The needs of this community are our top concern. We’ve heard loud and clear that they want the West Lake site transferred to the Army Corps of Engineers’ program that oversees all other sites in St. Louis containing this World War II era nuclear waste. This legislation is not a silver bullet, and will take far longer than we’d like to resolve the many issues surrounding this site, but this is a concrete, positive step forward in a process that’s been stagnant for far too long.”
The bill introduced today would not alter the current liability of potentially responsible parties at the site nor its designation as a Superfund site.
Coalition to Keep Us Safe, an ongoing voice in the debacle, is opposing the plan. Molly Teichman, coalition leader, worries the movement of the materials will cause a burden on Missouri’s roads and rails and increases risks to local workers and all Missourians.FUSRAP excavating and moving the site could take up to 40 years and an estimated $400 million.
“Here we have DC politicians coming in to save us from a problem that doesn’t exist,” said Teichman. “In 2008, the EPA wanted to cap the landfill where it is – resolving the issue for the entire area. Now, seven years later, we have politicians wanting to transfer the site to another bureaucracy, further delaying cleanup at the site.”
Attorney General Chris Koster, who is currently in the process of suing the owner of the adjacent Bridgeton Landfill, has chimed in on the controversy, sharing concerns with a transfer to FUSRAP.
“The whole problem is we’re getting trapped in a federal bureaucratic Rube Goldberg machine and we’re not seeing the kind of progress we want to be seeing, so I don’t want to throw us in another federal contraption,” Koster told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in August.
Teichman also worries that a change of jurisdiction over the site could take priority from an already financially-strapped FUSRAP, which has an annual budget of $104 million to remediate work at 23 sites, including Coldwater Creek, a site five miles from the landfill, at $7 million in funding.
“The cost for excavation and off-site disposal of the West Lake Landfill is $400 million and at least originally at taxpayer expense,” Teichman said. “It also delays cleanup be an estimated 40 years. This is worse than a ‘bridge to nowhere’ because it actually delays cleanup at the site. If these politicians want to do what is right for Missouri, they need to focus on sites like Coldwater Creek, where people are getting sick and actual health problems have been documented. My hope is they will do their homework and do what’s right, before it is too late.”
The measure represents the latest step in the delegation’s effort to utilize the Corps’ expertise to expedite remediation at the West Lake site. In July, Blunt, McCaskill, Congresswoman Ann Wagner, and Congressman Lacy Clay sent a letter to Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz asking the Department of Energy to re-evaluate whether West Lake qualified for inclusion in the Corps’ FUSRAP in light of new information regarding the source of radioactive waste at the site.
“My constituents in the St. Louis region deserve a government where officials work proactively on their behalf, rather than kicking the can down the road with recurring delays and deflections,” said Wagner. “The Formerly Utilized Site Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have an excellent track record, broad support in the community and the expertise to handle a site as complicated as the Westlake Landfill. I believe that this legislation is a crucial step in our efforts to reach a permanent solution for the people of Missouri.”
Clay added, “Over a year ago, I called for the transfer of West Lake to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers FUSRAP program. This new bipartisan legislation will bring us closer to achieving that goal. This is a 70-year old problem and the federal government has a duty to finally do the right thing. I am totally committed to removing all the nuclear waste from West Lake landfill. It just makes no sense to allow radioactive waste to remain buried in an unlined landfill, near residential neighborhoods, schools, a hospital, the airport and the Missouri River. It’s time to clean up West Lake landfill.”
Another in-state coalition supports the bill.
“It’s thanks to our federally elected officials that the Corps of Engineers is already involved at the West Lake Landfill in a support role,” said Ed Smith with the Missouri Coalition for the Environment. “The Corps already has site familiarity that should lead to a smooth transition of jurisdiction if the bipartisan legislation becomes law.”
Rachael Herndon was the editor at The Missouri Times and also produced This Week in Missouri Politics, published Missouri Times Magazine, and co-hosted the #MoLeg podcast. She joined The Missouri Times in 2014, returning to political reporting after working as a campaign and legislative staffer.
Rachael studied at the University of Missouri – Columbia. She lives in Jefferson City with her husband, Brandon, and their two children.
