NUCLEAR LEGACIES: In September 2018, after years of controversy, the US Environmental Protection Agency ordered an aggressive cleanup of West Lake Landfill near St. Louis. The landfill is contaminated with radioactive waste and has been on the EPA’s Superfund list since 1990. The Washington Post explains: “[EPA Acting Administrator] Wheeler’s decision is the latest signal that he intends to largely follow the policy course set out by his predecessor, Scott Pruitt, who resigned from EPA in July amid a flurry of federal ethics The Washington Post explained this as in keeping with the Trump administration’s stated commitment to accelerating cleanups at the nation’s Superfund sites, saying such work was more central to the agency’s mission than combating climate change and helping shift the nation to cleaner sources of energy.” See the Washington Post coverage, EPA orders extensive cleanup of radioactive waste site near St. Louis. Also, see local coverage (St. Louis Dispatch), EPA reaches cleanup decision for radioactive West Lake Landfill Superfund site, and the (very richly documented) website for Just Mom’s STL.
Two documentary films have been made about St. Louis’s nuclear legacy: Atomic Homefront and The Safe Side of the Fence. Read this interview with Tony West, director of The Safe Side of the Fence.
