Missouri's congressional delegation wants the radioactive waste at West Lake Landfill in Bridgeton handled with help from the Army Corps of Engineers, which has worked to clean up other nuclear waste sites in downtown ºüÀêÊÓƵ and near the airport.
The Environmental Protection Agency is working with the landfill's owners, Republic Services, to determine how to prevent an underground fire at the adjacent Bridgeton Landfill from reaching the radioactive waste.
"Given the Corps' expertise in this area, and the local community's faith in the Corps ... we request that the EPA consider contracting directly with the Corps to handle any and all remediation needed at the site," reads the letter to EPA administrator Karl Brooks which is dated Feb. 28 and signed by Sen. Claire McCaskill, Sen. Roy Blunt, Rep. Lacy Clay and Rep. Ann Wagner.
Brooks said Tuesday that he is seriously considering the recommendation to work with the Army Corps.
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"Like the delegation and the Missourians they represent, I also want to know from the experts with EPA, (the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry) and our Missouri state agency partners, that conditions in the Bridgeton community remain protective of human health," Brooks said in a statement. "I am regularly assured by these experts that the community is being protected from the nuclear waste that was dumped illegally at West Lake four decades ago."
The ºüÀêÊÓƵ County Council, county executive Charlie Dooley, the nearby SSM DePaul Health Center, Pattonville School District and the North County Incorporated business development group have all asked for the Army Corps of Engineers to handle the cleanup at the landfill under its Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program for radioactive waste.
