By Don Corrigan
Fear. Anxiety. Heartbreak. Those are words used by residents living near the radioactive West lake Landfill in North St. Louis County. Residents say their fear, their anxiety and their heartbreaks have multiplied in the 2020 pandemic because of weakened immune systems.
The COVID-19 virus can cause severe illness and death, especially for those with compromised immune systems. Many residents living in the vicinity of West Lake report that they already suffer ailments that they attribute to the nearby toxic landfill.
“The amount of fear and anxiety our community members have been forced to live with in regards to the landfill and toxins has doubled with COVID-19,” said Dawn Chapman, co-founder of Just Moms STL, an activist group that has fought for years for cleanup of the site. “Many of our residents are taking more extreme precautions in order to avoid this COVID-19 illness.
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West Lake Landfill area residents are supporting each other in uncertain times now that are not just related to the pandemic. Although federal officials with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) agreed to a limited cleanup of the site in 2018, there is now wrangling over who will pay the costs. Estimated costs are expected to rise and federal coffers are suffering budget woes both from the tax cuts put into effect in 2018 and from the pandemic crisis now.
The federal government is on the hook for cleanup costs, but other responsible parties for the toxic waste site, such as Mallinckrodt Chemical Works, are having their own financial difficulties. A recent declaration of bankruptcy by Mallinckrodt has added fuel to a “dumpster fire” over who’s paying for West Lake cleanup costs. The St. Louis company has been hit with hefty lawsuits for its role in the nation’s opioid crisis.
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Long before the chemical company was manufacturing opioid drugs, Mallinckrodt was processing uranium for the America’s atomic bomb program. Radioactive waste from the atomic weapons program was haphazardly buried in the what is now the West Lake EPA Superfund site in Bridgeton. The waste also can be found along land bordering Coldwater Creek.
Mallinckrodt faces the potential of hundreds of millions of dollars in liabilities from the recent opioid crisis, as well as from the atomic weapons program a half century ago. Hence, the company’s move earlier this fall to file for bankruptcy for protection from creditors.
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According to Mallinckrodt’s own website, the company “purified and provided all of the uranium oxide used by the Manhattan Project” to make the atomic bomb during the World War II period. Radioactive waste from Mallinckrodt’s St. Louis operations found its way into the West Lake Landfill where it was illegally dumped in the 1970s.
“I do think to some extent Republic bought a lemon when they took over the landfill,” said Chapman. “The fact that we are still figuring out the extent of the contamination means that when they agreed to purchase this site, not enough was known about it. It would be one thing if they bought it knowing this, but that wasn’t the case.
“Don’t get me wrong about Republic, though,” added Chapman. “They fought us tooth and nail and went all out and waged war against our group of moms just for wanting to be kept safe. They wrote op-eds in the Huffington Post, created front groups, and it cost us dearly in every way possible in the battle to get a site cleanup.”
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After so much fear, anxiety and heartbreak, Chapman said she now realizes that her group of mothers is probably only between half or three-quarters finished with the radioactive waste issue at the site. She said they are just getting started with possible groundwater contamination issues.
“We are going to stay focused as long as we have to and to advocate to make our community a safe place to live and work,” said Chapman. “The biggest piece of advice I would give anyone in these big environmental safety battles is to find someone to help you.
“The mothers and my friend Karen Nickel – we all have each other,” said Chapman. “We have the backing and support of our families and friends. With the officials and the experts, you have to demand that they are honest with you. They need to tell you what you need to hear – not just what you want to hear.”
Read more at COVID-19 Pandemic Multiplies Worries For Residents Living Near West Lake Landfill
