Bill Text: MO HCR37 | 2014 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Requests the 2008 EPA Record of Decision regarding the West Lake Landfill Superfund site be adopted and implemented expeditiously
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2014-05-16 - Referred: General Laws(H) [HCR37 Detail]
Download: Missouri-2014-HCR37-Introduced.html
SECOND REGULAR SESSION
House Concurrent Resolution No. 37
97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVE KOLKMEYER.
WHEREAS, West Lake Landfill is a former landfill located just north and west of Lambert-St. Louis International Airport; and
WHEREAS, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) began its investigation of the West Lake Landfill in 1976; and
WHEREAS, the NRC issued a report, concluding that West Lake Landfill received about 8,700 tons of a low-level radioactive material called leached barium sulfate, intermixed with about 39,000 tons of soil in 1973; and
WHEREAS, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) added the landfill to its National Priorities List in 1990; and
WHEREAS, after more than 30 years of testing, analysis, and public involvement, the U.S. EPA selected a final site cleanup plan for the areas containing the radioactive material in a 2008 Record of Decision; and
WHEREAS, the 2008 selected remedy included installation of a multi-layered engineered cap that stands five feet tall; ongoing groundwater monitoring and protection standards; surface water runoff controls; landfill gas monitoring and controls, including radon gas; and long-term surveillance and maintenance of the remedy; and
WHEREAS, the U.S. EPA found that: "The Selected Remedy is protective of human health and the environment, complies with federal and state requirements that are applicable or relevant and appropriate, is cost effective, and utilizes permanent solutions and alternative treatment technologies to the maximum extent practicable”; and
WHEREAS, when compared to excavation alternatives, the 2008 selected remedy requires the shortest amount of time to implement, and presents the lowest potential short-term risks to on-site workers and to the community by preventing exposure to contaminated waste that could be released to the air, wind, and water during excavation, as well as by eliminating the hauling of excavated waste through multiple communities as it travels across the country; and
WHEREAS, any remedy requiring excavation is a potential threat to Lambert-St. Louis International Airport by posing a risk of attracting birds to excavated exposed sanitary waste and to land animals (rodents, etc.) attracted to such newly-exposed waste which could risk bird strikes on incoming and outgoing aircraft; and
WHEREAS, any remedy requiring excavation would cause additional traffic congestion and possibly fatal accidents from increased truck traffic hauling low-level radioactive waste off the site through St. Louis County to a rail line and across the country for disposal; and
WHEREAS, because of complaints to the U.S. EPA concerning its 2008 selected remedy, no long-term remedy to protect human health and the environment has been implemented to date at the site and the Superfund site continues to await clean-up:
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the members of the House of Representatives of the Ninety-seventh General Assembly, Second Regular Session, the Senate concurring therein, hereby request that the 2008 Record of Decision be adopted as the reconsidered, official remedy to be implemented at the West Lake Landfill Superfund site with such implementation of the remedy to begin expeditiously; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Chief Clerk of the Missouri House of Representatives be instructed to prepare a properly inscribed copy of this resolution for the Majority and Minority Leaders of the United States Senate and House of Representatives, the Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency, and each member of the Missouri Congressional delegation.
•
