North County Residents Press for More Info on West Lake Landfill

Although the Environmental Protection Agency had hoped to ease concerns of North County residents in a public meeting Tuesday, it only stirred them up.

Hundreds of residents from Bridgeton, Maryland Heights, Florissant and Hazelwood came out to get questions answered and find out more information on the West Lake Landfill situation.

The landfill has been a growing point of concern for years in North County as radioactive materials have sat in the site for more than 40 years. The worries has increased in recent months as a subsurface fire in the neighboring landfill, Bridgeton Landfill, moves closer to the radioactive materials.

With representatives from the EPA and state agencies such as the Missouri Department of Natural Resources and Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services looking to ease tensions of residents, they only grew.

“Clean up the rad waste,” area resident Byron Clemons said. “When will you take it to a licensed facility? Get it out of here.”

The crowd presented him with the standing ovation of the night.

(Check out what residents had to say or get a sense of the tense emotion from our video above.)

Residents have said numerous times during the meeting and in previous forums they want the EPA to transfer West Lake to the Army Corps of Engineers, who have been responsible for digging up other sites in the St. Louis area.

EPA Region 7 Administrator Karl Brooks said that in upcoming months there will be further testing and sampling of groundwater sampling done by U.S. Geological Survey to provide further necessary information on the best course of action.

Brooks said that all plans are being considered from removing the site completely to covering it and all of the in-between. He said that there is adequate time to discuss possible remedies and choose one, but he wouldn’t specify a timeline for such activity.

He did assure residents in that there are no health risks to people at this time.

“The water people drink is safe,” he said. “The air people breathe is safe.”

The answers that the EPA and other agencies provided didn’t satisfy attendees, though.

“I think they told us what they thought we wanted to hear, but they didn’t answer the questions asked,” Bridgeton resident Georgia Leek said. “My kids have ingested these fumes [from the landfill] for eight years. It’s scary.”

Leek, who asked a question during the meeting, said the meeting didn’t meet her level of expectation, and she wants to know more about contingencies for the area if the fire should reach the radioactive material.

“It’s just like any other meeting,” Florissant native Jennifer Smith said. “They sidestep answers.”

Smith, who serves as an administrator for the Cold Water Creek--Just the Facts Please Facebook Page, said that she is concerned about West Lake because it affects everyone in North County.

“It’s scary and frustrating and aggravating at the same time,” she said.

Brooks said that other public meetings would be planned by the EPA to keep the public informed and be allowed to ask questions.