Dive Brief:
- The St. Louis-area congressional delegation sent a letter to U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, questioning whether radioactive contamination at the West Lake Landfill in Bridgeton, MO came from the Department of Energy or its predecessors. The lawmakers want DOE to re-evaluate whether West Lake should be added to a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers cleanup program.
- West Lake Landfill and parts of the adjacent Bridgeton Landfill were contaminated in the 1970s when a local contractor for uranium producer Cotter Corp. illegally dumped radioactively-contaminated waste.
- The site was never included in the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program, originally a DOE program that is now operated by the corps. It was put under U.S. Environmental Protection Agency jurisdiction in 1990, but residents complain the agency can't get the job done. EPA promised a cleanup proposal by the end of 2016.
Dive Insight:
Residents have waited long enough for cleanup at the site, and are eager for action to start taking place.
Sens. Roy Blunt (R) and Claire McCaskill (D), along with U.S Reps. William Lacy Clay, D-St. Louis, and Ann Wagner, R-Ballwin, wrote the letter seeking answers to questions about the West Lake Landfill. The lawmakers' letter makes clear that responsibility potentially falls on many shoulders, including DOE, Chicago power company Exelon Corp., and current landfill owner Republic Services.
