最新杏吧原创

The EPA issued an update last week on preparatory work for the eventual cleanup of the radioactive site. But years after charting a cleanup strategy, it did not offer clear details or goals about how much longer that work might last.

鈥淭hey鈥檙e literally not giving a time frame,鈥� said Dawn Chapman, co-founder of the local volunteer group, Just Moms STL, which closely tracks West Lake. 鈥淎nd that鈥檚 not happened before.鈥�

The agency鈥檚 targeted time to begin the cleanup has been steadily delayed throughout the past few years, and has become murkier over time. The agency estimated in 2018 that removing the bulk of the site鈥檚 radioactivity would take four and a half years to complete: about 18 months for a 鈥渄esign phase鈥� to plan the work, and then approximately three years for excavating the site and building a cover for the landfill.

But continued shifts in timing and clarity have stoked frustration among some local residents, like Chapman, who say the EPA is 鈥渕oving the goalposts.鈥�

A regional EPA representative said the agency shares the same goal as the community.

鈥淲e share the same interests, and that鈥檚 seeing the site cleaned up as fast as we can get it done,鈥� said Ben Washburn, an agency spokesman, adding that the EPA is also committed to doing the work effectively and correctly.

The contamination issues at West Lake have festered for decades, ever since World War II-era radioactive waste stemming from local uranium processing for the Manhattan Project was illegally dumped at the site in the 1970s.

But the debate and inaction surrounding how to clean up the site has also dragged out over decades and various presidential administrations. The landfill was first designated as a part of the EPA Superfund program鈥檚 National Priorities List in 1990. It wasn鈥檛 until 2008, though, that a decision about how to handle the site was first reached. That decision called for putting a cap on the site and leaving its contaminants in place 鈥� a course of action that was eventually rescinded amid public backlash, sending the EPA back to the drawing board.

Meanwhile, public interest 鈥� and concern 鈥� about the site billowed in 2010, following the detection of an underground fire in the adjacent Bridgeton Landfill. That fire, called a 鈥渟ubsurface smoldering event鈥� by officials, has come within hundreds of yards of known radioactive contamination but has been slowed by an intricate cooling system of pipes that run into the landfill.

Although the EPA finally reached an eagerly anticipated decision in 2018 about how to clean up the site, the three and a half years since that moment have been characterized by delays and, more recently, a decline in clarity.

In 2019, for example, the site鈥檚 estimated design phase was extended by a year, after the EPA announced that additional testing would be done to gain a more precise understanding of where the site鈥檚 radioactive contamination is found. At the time, EPA officials expressed hope that more careful testing could accelerate the ensuing cleanup itself, and local residents shared some optimism about the prudence of a 鈥渕easure twice, cut once鈥� approach, particularly if it could speed up other aspects of the work.

鈥淲e thought, 鈥極K, that makes sense,鈥欌�� said Chapman. 鈥淲e were OK with a little bit of a delay.鈥�

And by 2021, EPA leaders signaled that planning the cleanup was expected to take longer, still 鈥� stretching to a target in 2023.

Now, however, the EPA has no identified estimate of when the planning will end, and when the actual cleanup will begin, according to the recent update from regional officials.

It is essentially in the midst of a three-dimensional game of Battleship, making boreholes into the landfill to better determine where and how to dig out radioactive material. Once that process is complete, the EPA said it 鈥渨ill provide updates to the community鈥� about the projected completion date for the cleanup design.

The statement also said that the agency continues to negotiate an 鈥渆nforceable agreement鈥� with the public and private entities that are ultimately responsible for paying for the estimated $205 million cleanup. Those agreements are typically settled by the time a Superfund cleanup strategy is announced, but EPA officials said that a rare exception was made for West Lake, so that the cleanup design could begin while negotiations continued 鈥� a tactic intended to speed up the site鈥檚 remediation.

Next week, a small contingent of local residents, including Chapman, is set to travel to the EPA鈥檚 regional headquarters near Kansas City, to meet with top officials about the site.

One of her overarching questions is when the agency will consider that sufficient on-site testing has been done and cleanup can start.

鈥淲hat鈥檚 your line in the sand?鈥� Chapman said. 鈥淲hen are you going to feel like you鈥檝e tested enough?鈥�

Chapman said she understands that the site鈥檚 cleanup is complicated, but she just wants to ensure that the public is kept as informed as possible.

鈥淚t鈥檚 accountability time for this agency,鈥� she said. 鈥淚f there鈥檚 something going on at this site, I get it. ... But be honest.鈥�