PRESS RELEASE

Date: March 9, 2016

Contact: Ed Smith, Missouri Coalition for the Environment, esmith@moenviron.org.

MCE Applauds AG Koster West Lake Letter to EPA

MCE Supports Action on Federal, Bipartisan West Lake Landfill Legislation

St. Louis, MO: The Missouri Coalition for the Environment (MCE) thanks Attorney General Koster for keeping the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) accountable to Missourians impacted by the West Lake Landfill. AG Koster details three self-imposed deadlines the EPA has missed with work related to the site, including updates on the extent of radioactive contamination, an update on the proposed isolation barrier meant to keep the smoldering fire separate from the radioactive wastes, and an update on EPA experiments to determine what happens if the smoldering fire reaches radioactive wastes.

“AG Koster’s letter is a clear signal to Congressman Frank Pallone of New Jersey and elected officials in Washington DC that Missourians desperately need this bipartisan legislation,” said Ed Smith, Policy Director with the Missouri Coalition for the Environment. “The longer beltway politics get in the way of advancing this widely supported bipartisan legislation, the more faith people lose in government doing the right thing,” Mr. Smith added.

The Army Corps of Engineers is currently the lead agency at every active radioactive cleanup site in the metro St. Louis area because they have a specialized nuclear waste cleanup program, the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP). The EPA advises the Corps at FUSRAP sites. The proposed legislation would turn West Lake Landfill into the same structure that is working well to clean up other radioactive sites in St. Louis.

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