BY Gregg Palermo St. Louis
PUBLISHED 4:47 PM CT Mar. 17, 2025
BRIDGETON, Mo.—The new head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is pledging additional resources to the effort to clean up the Superfund site at the West Lake landfill as the St. Louis region continues to grapple with the legacy of nuclear contamination dating back to its involvement with the development of nuclear weapons since World War II.
Lee Zeldin, who promised Missouri U.S. Senator Josh Hawley he would visit the site if confirmed as EPA administrator, did so on Monday, along with a stop along Coldwater Creek and time spent with advocates for radiation victims.
Zeldin, a former New York congressman, called the meeting with victims at Bridgeton’s City Hall, the most moving he’s had since he assumed his new role, marked by Debbie Neuman, of Bridgeton, who shared the series of health challenges she’s attributed to living in proximity to the landfill, which has been home to illegally dumped nuclear waste since the 1970s.