Some of the debate and division that has long surrounded the high profile West Lake Landfill Superfund site in Bridgeton was not immediately dispelled by the Environmental Protection Agency’s selection of a cleanup strategy last week.
While the chosen $205 million remedy — which calls for excavating about 70 percent of the landfill’s Manhattan Project-era radioactivity and disposing of it out of state — was cheered by groups concerned about the site, some of the entities that will ultimately need to pay for the cleanup slammed the decision and called it “arbitrary and capricious.â€
EPA officials and environmental law experts, though, say that the agency’s record of decision signed Thursday is not likely to experience significant delays or challenges, despite the lack of precision about when an enforceable cleanup agreement will be put in place, and when a design phase for remediation can begin.
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Legal statutes governing Superfund cleanups, experts said, are written “to avoid having these sites litigated to death and fester†while communities are at risk, according to Maxine Lipeles, the director of the Interdisciplinary Environmental Clinic at the Washington University School of Law.
“The statute gives EPA a lot of authority to get these sites cleaned up,†Lipeles added.
That assessment was echoed by multiple environmental lawyers at ºüÀêÊÓƵ law firms, some of whom requested anonymity because they have clients closely associated with West Lake. They said lots of deference is given to records of decision issued by the EPA and that there are significant penalties if groups liable for covering cleanup costs were to challenge the agency and lose.
Formally identified as “potentially responsible parties,†or PRPs, those entities at West Lake are Republic Services — the company that operates the landfill through its subsidiary, Bridgeton Landfill LLC — the U.S. Department of Energy and Chicago-based Exelon Corp., whose subsidiary, ComEd, used to own the uranium processor, Cotter Corp.
In 2008, when the EPA issued an earlier record of decision for the site — which was eventually re-evaluated and abandoned amid public criticism — the PRPs decided to split the costs evenly, according to Richard Callow, a Bridgeton Landfill spokesman. That decision, though, called for leaving contaminants in place and capping the site — a much less costly proposal. The same strategy was estimated to cost about $75 million by the EPA, according to documents released earlier this year.
At this time, there is not an agreement in place for how the PRPs will divide the $205 million price tag of the selected remedy — something the EPA said they would have to decide among themselves.
“Bridgeton Landfill LLC is opposed to the selected excavation remedy because it creates unacceptable risk with no proportional benefit, will greatly increase the time needed to remediate the site, and is contrary to EPA’s own findings regarding the risks posed by the site,†said a statement issued Thursday by the Republic Services subsidiary. “EPA’s decision today to excavate is arbitrary and capricious. From here, we will continue to engage vigorously with the EPA and the other PRPs to ensure that any remedy is performed in a manner that maximizes protections for the community and for on-site workers performing such remedy.â€
The company expressed its preference for the capping alternative, as did fellow PRP Cotter Corp.
“We believe a capping remedy, like the one selected in the Environmental Protection Agency’s original 2008 record of decision, is the best remedy for the site since it presents the least risk to the community of all the alternatives considered,†said a statement Cotter issued through a spokesperson. “Cotter is reviewing the selected remedy and is evaluating next steps.â€
The site’s other PRP, the U.S. Department of Energy, did not respond to requests for comment.
Very different reactions, meanwhile, came from some of the advocacy groups that have patiently waited years for progress at West Lake.
“I think we secured a really great cleanup for this area,†said Dawn Chapman, co-founder of Just Moms STL, a volunteer group focused on West Lake. “It’s so much better than I thought. We were hoping for, ‘Not the cap.’â€
“Obviously we think that this is a huge step in the right direction — we’re not trying to take anything away from that. The community is definitely viewing this as a win,†said Ed Smith, the policy director for the Missouri Coalition for the Environment. Though supportive of the EPA decision, the organization says it will continue its push for full excavation of the site and for buyouts of nearby homes.
The landfill is not lined at the bottom, and Smith and Chapman noted that the EPA’s separate, ongoing analysis about groundwater at the site could lead to additional action. An EPA representative said that any such action would need to be logistically “consistent†with the remediation decision reached this week.
“This is not the last decision to be made by the EPA at West Lake Landfill,†said Smith. “We’re hopeful that there might be more removal in the future if the EPA determines that the radiation in the groundwater is coming from the radiation in the unlined landfill.â€
Ultimately, those concerned about the site hope the chosen remedy serves as a unifying moment, and don’t want the PRPs to meet it with resistance.
“We’re ready to have them as members of this community again, and it’s my hope that they decide not to fight this decision,†Chapman said.
Post-Dispatch coverage of the West Lake and Bridgeton landfills
A landfill is on fire in Bridgeton, and while such "smoldering events" do happen in landfills, this one is close to World War II-era radioactive waste. The Bridgeton Landfill abuts the West Lake Landfill. West Lake is where nuclear waste, the remnants of the Manhattan Project, was dumped decades ago.Â
Here is a highlight of some of the Post-Dispatch coverage of the landfill, the radiation and community concerns.
April 2022:Â Maps show contamination extending up to and, in at least a few places, slightly beyond the fence line of the Superfund site.
March 2022: Residents and officials emerged frustrated and concerned after hearing details about newly discovered areas of contamination.
On Sept. 30, a two-year-old lawsuit aimed at getting Mallinckrodt to help shoulder the looming $205 million cleanup at West Lake was dismissed…
The public and private entities responsible for covering the $205 million cost of the landfill’s cleanup are submitting design-phase work plan…
The report does not adequately address residents’ concerns that the site is contributing to family members’ cancers, birth defects and other c…
Now the owner of the Superfund trying to rope a company it contends is owned by the New York-based financial services giant Citigroup into the…
Republic Services — the waste hauler whose subsidiary, Bridgeton Landfill, owns the radioactive West Lake Landfill Superfund site — may have s…
Some of the debate and division that has long surrounded the high profile West Lake Landfill Superfund site in Bridgeton was not immediately d…
The agency said late Wednesday that it would slightly modify its earlier proposal to partly remove the site’s contamination, employing “more f…
Remedial work at the landfill has reduced emissions to levels that are unlikely to harm most people, according to state health officials.
The money could be used only as “compensation and restitution†to communities within a four-mile radius of the now-shuttered landfill and to p…
“It’s a small step for a big problem. There’s a lot more that needs to happen,†Chappelle-Nadal said. “We’ve got a long road ahead of us.â€
As Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt faces a mounting list of ethics and spending complaints, many locally wonder how…
But at a packed and emotionally charged meeting in Bridgeton on Tuesday night, scores of speakers provided vocal, and largely critical, feedba…
The EPA said the proposed remedy, which it calls “Excavation Plus,†is expected to take five years to implement and will remove the “majority 
The long string of speakers shared personal experiences — often recounting health complications suffered by loved ones — and voiced strong opi…
The results stand in contrast to a lawsuit filed in November by an area couple, Michael and Robbin Dailey, alleging that elevated levels of co…
Based on sampling conducted at the site, the state found "statistically significant evidence of contamination" affecting groundwater at and ar…
Fear, fueled by the popular perception of radiation risks and the slow response to the fire by landfill operator Republic Services and the Env…
The new map puts some of the newly discovered material in the northern quarry of the Bridgeton Landfill. But DNR has not raised any concerns i…
Construction was still months away because the agency has yet to hammer out a legal agreement with the company that would lead the project.
The county’s emergency plan says if the fire reaches contaminated areas of West Lake, “there is a potential for radioactive fallout to be rele…
“I feel like my best course of action is to uproot my family and move as far away as I can.â€
“I really want to assure the communities and families in ºüÀêÊÓƵ that there is no imminent threat,†EPA spokesman Curtis Carey said.
Companies potentially liable for the waste - and the cost of cleanup disagree on approach to the work.
“There’s some evidence that there could be other waste streams there,†said Craig Nesbit, a spokesman for Exelon Generation.
The EPA had said the waste was contained within fenced areas of the adjacent West Lake Landfill.
Many want to see a full-scale risk assessment from the EPA that takes into account a landfill fire. The lack of a fire risk assessment has bee…
That frustration boiled over at an October meeting between residents and officials from the EPA. Some attendees shoved chairs and stormed out …
Officials said they would bring Pattonville parents’ concerns to the attention of the CDC for a possible evaluation of health risks at the two…
If the city’s concerns about bird strikes aren’t addressed, plans to build a barrier between the burning underground trash at Bridgeton Landfi…
Republic Services says dealing with the landfills has cost $125 million thus far, one of the most expensive environmental problems it faces. T…
Republic Services agreed to additional carbon monoxide testing to monitor movement of the fire in the Bridgeton Landfill that has been stoking…
The Army Corps of Engineers will help build an isolation barrier between an underground fire at the Bridgeton landfill and radioactive materia…
Anyone who accepts the settlement is prevented from filing any further nuisance claims for property damage due to the landfill’s odor.Â
He said a 2008 decision to leave radioactive wastes at West Lake in place ignored the fact that the site was in the Missouri River floodplain,…
“We’ve had odors a few times since then,†said Kathy Bell who lives in the Spanish Village neighborhood just southwest of the landfill. “But, …
The EPA had no answers to the questions and criticisms of those pushing to have the radioactive waste excavated and disposed of in a licensed …
Republic Services Inc. will place a plastic cap on its Bridgeton landfill by early September to control foul odors and extinguish an undergrou…
“The situation up there is distressing and terrible, and anybody who is living around that site has every right to complain,†he said.
The odor coming from the Bridgeton Landfill is foul-smelling, but it’s not a health threat, according to testing done by the state this month.
The Missouri Department of Natural Resources first reported indications of a subsurface fire in January 2011.Â
February 2022: Years after charting a cleanup strategy, the EPA did not offer clear details or goals about how much longer that work might last.