PRESS RELEASE
Date: September 3, 2015
Contact: Ed Smith, (314) 727-0600, esmith@moenviron.org
Radioactivity Found Offsite Near West Lake Landfill
St. Louis, MO: Attorney General Chris Koster released expert reports today related to his lawsuit against Republic Services and its smoldering West Lake Landfill. Particularly concerning is the discovery of radioactive materials in offsite vegetation. The EPA found radioactive materials in previously unidentified areas when testing for the proposed isolation barrier last year, which makes this the second test in a year to find radioactivity in previously unidentified areas.
“This is the second time in the last year that radioactivity has been found in places that were supposedly clean,” said Ed Smith with the Missouri Coalition for the Environment. “It further demonstrates the need for President Obama or our federally elected officials to put the Army Corps of Engineers in charge immediately so the site can be properly characterized and remediated in a timely manner,” he continued.
The reports also say the smoldering fire is beyond the barrier meant to contain the fire to the south quarry and moving in the direction of the radioactive materials. A Republic Services spokesperson told the Post-Dispatch, “This will be life for the next five years” regarding the odors and the smoldering fire and only in the context of the south quarry. That means at least 9 years of people living next to the smoldering landfill fire and likely longer should the smoldering fire move into the north quarry.
“It is past time for Republic Services or the government to provide a voluntary buyout for people living within a one-mile radius of the landfill,” said Kathy Bell who is a nearby resident. “We are being choked to death at night and throughout the day by this nasty landfill and we cannot take it any longer, let alone five or more years,” she added.
###