A new letter was just released last week from DNR to EPA that states they want EPA to take over the entire site because of “the high probability of radiological materials in the Bridgeton Landfill.” For those who don’t know, part of Bridgeton Landfill is where the fire is currently happening. Most of you probably feel like Karen and I-like you have been slapped upside the head. The link to the letter is in the article but we will post it separately as soon as we download it. We know this hard to read- we will be on the page and available to message. Also-we are considering a town hall to discuss this.
New Story: New concerns raised about radioactive material at 2 Bridgeton landfills
Published: Jan. 22, 2025 at 6:40 PM CST|Updated: Jan. 23, 2025 at 5:18 AM CST
ST. LOUIS (First Alert 4) — Recently, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that the price tag to clean up West Lake Landfill had grown to nearly $400 million. The reason given was that soil sampling found the contamination was more widespread than previously known.
A letter sent in response from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to the EPA is causing concern. The letter, dated January 15, is from deputy director Jake Buxton to EPA project manager, Christine Jump and contains the phrase, “The high probability of radiological material in the Bridgeton Landfill.”
Pattonville Fire Protection District Assistant Fire Chief Kevin Stuhlman responded to the letter by saying, “That’s a very troubling statement.”
West Lake Landfill is an EPA Superfund Site where radioactive waste from the Manhattan Project was illegally dumped in the 1970s. Bridgeton Landfill sits beside it and was mainly a municipal landfill, but has been closed for years.
Temperature measurements detected an underground smouldering event in Bridgeton Landfill in December 2010, which subsequently released a putrid smell to the surrounding public. The underground fire drew concern that it could spread to the radioactive material in neighboring West Lake Landfill.
For years, the widespread belief was that the radioactive material was isolated to West Lake Landfill.
Karen Nickel is with Just Moms STL.
“It’s scary to see those words, to have an agency kind of verifying and say yeah, we have this pretty good idea that it’s a high probability. To us, that means oh, another round of poisoning,” she said.
In response to the DNR letter, U.S. Senator Josh Hawley released a statement:
“This is huge news – we now know there is radiological debris in the landfill. The EPA must assume full responsibility and come forward with a plan to clean it up. And Congress must pass RECA immediately.”
The soil sampling conducted by the EPA that discovered the contamination was more widespread, did detect contamination inside the boundary of the Bridgeton Landfill but at the far northern section of the landfill, and not close to the underground fire.
In response to community concerns, a spokesperson for the EPA Region 7 released this statement:
“Following an extensive design investigation process, which included hundreds of new borings across Operable Units 1 and 2, EPA has no new evidence or information to support any claim that radiologically-impacted material (RIM) is present anywhere else in the Bridgeton Landfill; the letter from MoDNR has not changed this.”
First Alert 4 reached out to Missouri DNR to ask for clarification of the phrase, “high probability of radiological material in the Bridgeton Landfill.” An agency spokesperson wrote in an email that The Missouri Department of Natural Resources’ Jan. 15, 2025, letter concurred with the analysis and work performed by EPA.
The letter raised enough alarm that members of Just Moms STL are calling for the EPA to install monitors near Bridgeton Landfill and for the EPA to take over as the lead agency on the Bridgeton Landfill as well as West Lake Landfill.
“It’s time for the feds to take over what belongs to them,” said Dawn Chapman.
The owner of the site, Bridgeton Landfill, LLC, released this statment about the new concerns:
“There is no evidence whatsoever of radiologically impacted material (RIM) in Bridgeton Landfill, and saying so is inconsistent with decades of investigations and the history of how radiologically impacted material (RIM) came to the site. EPA’s January 17, 2025, decision found, based on decades of investigations, exactly what areas are radioactively-impacted. Bridgeton Landfill is not one of them.”
The Army Corps of Engineers is holding a meeting Thursday night, Jan. 23, to give an update on clean-up efforts at sites with radioactive contamination. The virtual meeting can be accessed here.
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