Environmental Protection Agency officials will discuss results of additional testing at the West Lake Landfill Superfund site at a public meeting Tuesday night at Pattonville High School.
The groundwater tests and radiation screening on the agenda are part of the EPA’s re-examination of a five-year-old plan for managing radioactive waste buried at the site. It is the second meeting hosted by the EPA this year to brief the public on activity at West Lake.
The first gathering, in January, drew more than 200 people, most of whom disagree with the EPA’s proposed remedy.
Many north ºüÀêÊÓƵ County residents and environmental groups want the Army Corps of Engineers to take over the site and the contaminated material removed from the unlined landfill situated less than two miles from the Missouri River.
The West Lake issue has generated even more scrutiny in recent months because of a smoldering fire deep within the adjacent Bridgeton Landfill.
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The fire has produced foul odors that led to a lawsuit by Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster. It also has triggered fears about what would happen if the mass of smoldering waste reached the radioactive material at West Lake.
Thousands of area residents have organized and are sharing information on the situation via Facebook and vow to keep pressure on the EPA to change its stance. The group also has attracted the attention of environmental crusader Erin Brockovich.
So far, the EPA has indicated no inclination to change its stance, insisting that West Lake poses no a danger to people who live and work in the area.
The contamination buried at West Lake is a product of Mallinckrodt Chemical Works’ World War II-era uranium processing operations.
In 2008, the EPA approved a plan to manage the contaminated areas by installing an earthen cap and a system of groundwater monitors.
A backlash from residents and elected officials led the EPA to reconsider the decision.
The agency ordered a supplemental feasibility study completed in 2011 that examined two other options, including excavation and disposal of the radiological material at a licensed disposal facility in Utah.
Even more tests were ordered by a national EPA review board that must sign off on the EPA’s decision because the cost of the proposed remedial work exceeds $25 million.
Those tests include rounds of additional groundwater sampling and an aerial radiological survey.
The first round of groundwater testing was completed last year.
Though some samples showed radium levels above the maximum contaminant level for groundwater, the EPA said such detections were “isolated and sporadic†and they found no plumes of contaminated groundwater migrating from the site.
The EPA last month announced results of an aerial radiological survey of the West Lake site. The agency’s report confirmed that surface gamma radiation is present only within fenced areas and poses no health risk to people who live and work in the area.
Critics say the federal government has a moral obligation to excavate radioactive waste, and are unswayed by results of the EPA’s recent tests.
They have posed new questions they want agency officials to answer at Tuesday’s meeting.