EPA Hosts Public Meeting on West Lake Landfill

The Environmental Protection Agency will be holding a public meeting Tuesday regarding West Lake Landfill and taking questions from the public, and the public will be ready.

According to a news release from the EPA’s website, the meeting will be used to discuss the results of the Airborne Spectral Photometric Environmental Collection Technology collected earlier this year. The ASPECT program is used to gather further information on a superfund site and make decisions pertaining to it.

“The results of the ASPECT survey are consistent with previous studies that indicate the site’s radiological wastes remain contained inside Operable Unit 1,” EPA Regional Administrator Karl Brooks said in a press release. “The site is securely fenced and clearly marked with warning signs. Under these conditions, this material poses no health risks to the public. A person would have to illegally trespass onto the site to be exposed to elevated levels of radiation.”

The Missouri Coaltion for the Environment sent a news release of their own to community members encouraging questions to the EPA. According to the release, the organization wants members to voice their thoughts on having radioactive nuclear wastes removed from West Lake Landfill and to have the subsurface landfill fire at the Bridgeton Landfill, near West Lake, stopped before reaching the radioactive wastes.

According to the EPA, the 200-acre site was originally home to limestone quarrying for more than 45 years. In 1973, though, two areas of the site became contaminated with radioactive waste from uranium ore processing residues.

Before Tuesday’s meeting, community members can submit questions through the EPA website.

The meeting will be held at Pattonville High School, 2497 Creve Coeur Mill Rd. in Maryland Heights, at 6:30 p.m.