U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt tells Fox and Friends it’s unacceptable that his agency does not have a plan to clean up radioactive waste at the St. Louis area West Lake Landfill. Area residents have complained about the health risks of the contamination and underground fire fumes from the nearby Bridgeton Landfill. That fire, which has been burning since at least 2010, could soon meet the 100,000 tons of WW II era nuclear weapons material lingering at West Lake Landfill.
EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt
“It’s taken the EPA 27 years, just to make a decision, not to clean it up, but just to make a decision on what should be done to clean it up,” says Pruitt.
A tweet from state Senator Maria Chappelle-Nadal, D-University City, to Pruitt says he should be briefed about the area’s radioactive waste problems.
“We have a plan in place that we are going to announce very soon on West Lake,” says Pruitt. “It’s very, very important to make those citizens know that we’re going to take steps to clean it up and clean it up quickly.”
Prior to Pruitt, the EPA has insisted that the waste does not pose a public health threat.
Residents who live or have lived in the area have reported a list of health battles, including cancer, autoimmune disease and some cannot have children.
Chappelle-Nadal and Rep. Mark Matthiesen, R-Maryland Heights, sponsored this session legislation that would use $12.5 million in state funding to pay fair market value for 91 homes near the waste site. During budget discussions, lawmakers changed that figure to $1 million.
Chappelle-Nadal says she might read on the Senate floor during the legislature’s special session that gets underway today. Her statement comes after the House failed to pass the bill during the regular session.
