A plan to separate a burning Bridgeton landfill from an adjacent dump filled with radioactive waste should be announced before the end of the year, the Environmental Protection Agency鈥檚 top regional official said Monday.
Meanwhile, the agency charged with overseeing the radioactively contaminated West Lake Landfill said it would require the dump鈥檚 owner to put a stronger plan in place to deal with surface fires like the one that broke out last weekend.
EPA Region 7鈥檚 acting administrator Mark Hague emphasized to reporters that the brush fire sparked by a faulty electric switch did not reach the landfill or cause the release of any contaminants. But he said his agency would make sure landfill owner Republic Services develops 鈥渁 more aggressive and robust incident plan鈥 for surface fires that will include increased surveillance, more preventive measures and 鈥渂etter fire suppression.鈥
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鈥淲e are going to work with our partners in the state and other agencies to make sure that happens, and we are prepared to use all of our authorities to get Republic to do that work,鈥 Hague said.
The EPA detailed its plans for better fire protection while residents of Bridgeton and neighboring suburbs are increasingly on edge about the danger posed by the long-burning Bridgeton Landfill and adjacent radioactive contamination. Recent reports released by Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster warned the underground fire was moving toward the radioactive West Lake Landfill and that radiation levels above background had been found in some offsite tree samples. Many worry they could be exposed to radiation spread by the fire.
The EPA has refuted those reports, and Republic Services has said the state鈥檚 lawsuit against it over the underground Bridgeton Landfill fire is driving them. The EPA has also released reports saying there is no exposure pathway between residents and the West Lake contamination and that a fire, even if it did reach the dump, wouldn鈥檛 spew radioactive material beyond the site.
The disclosure of a 最新杏吧原创 County emergency plan and subsequent letters sent home by nearby school districts have elevated public concern to some of the highest levels since the Bridgeton Landfill began burning five years ago.
EPA鈥檚 assurances and its new commitment to building a firebreak and a fix for the site did little to calm the hundreds of residents who packed a Bridgeton auditorium on Monday night.
Officials were sometimes shouted down by residents who demanded action after years of waiting. While the agency took questions, many attendees took the opportunity to voice their displeasure with the agency that has overseen the contaminated landfill for more than two decades.
You鈥檙e 鈥渇ailing this community!鈥 yelled one woman, to loud applause.
鈥淚 understand your concerns,鈥 Hague attempted to tell residents.
鈥淣o you dont鈥!鈥 many shouted back.
Kirbi Pemberton, who lives in Maryland Heights and spent several years of her childhood in a subdivision adjacent to the landfill during the 1970s, said her children have had to drop out of high school sports because of maladies she suspects come from the burning Bridgeton Landfill and West Lake.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 go outside, we don鈥檛 open our windows,鈥 she said. 鈥淭his isn鈥檛 right.鈥
Paul Charp, a scientist with the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, came to explain a health study released earlier this month that said there were no exposure pathways from West Lake to residents. Struggling to convince a skeptical audience, Charp said there has been little movement of the contamination offsite through groundwater.
But, he added: 鈥淭here is a lot of contamination onsite, so something has to be done to ensure there鈥檚 no groundwater migration off site.鈥
The EPA also discussed plans for a firebreak between the two landfills first proposed in 2013. Construction on a wall between the two landfills announced that year stalled after a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers report last summer said the full extent of the radioactive waste was unclear.
Hague said before the meeting the EPA has finished field work and is awaiting final lab results meant to better map the radiological contamination. It should determine a 鈥渃lean line鈥 where some sort of infrastructure separating the two landfills can be installed without coming into contact with radiological contamination.
鈥淭hat was a very critical piece of information we needed to be able to evaluate any option for a fire break or a fire barrier,鈥 Hague said.
Hague said the EPA is evaluating options other than a firebreak, including inert gas injection and closed cooling loops, a device Republic Services already uses to keep the fire from spreading north within the Bridgeton Landfill.
The firebreak, though, will only serve as a stopgap measure, Hauge said.
He reiterated the agency鈥檚 pledge to propose a solution at West Lake 鈥 be it a cap over the waste, encapsulation or removal 鈥 by the end of next year.
鈥淲hat鈥檚 most important and that I think the public needs is a final remedy at the West Lake site,鈥 he said.
