Still awaiting a start date for West Lake Landfill cleanup

BRIDGETON (KMOX) -- Just Moms, the group that's spearheaded a lot of the effort to clean up West Lake Landfill, hopes the EPA will soon reveal its timetable for cleaning up the radioactive waste on the site.The EPA has been studying the landfill ever since it agreed in 2018 to dig up as much as 70 percent of the radioactive waste buried there. Now, Dawn Chapman of Just Moms, hopes the EPA will say more when it meets in the St. Louis area later this month."I think we've given them enough time," Chapman told KMOX. "I think it's time to start throwing out some dates as to when shovel meets ground."Bridgeton residents near the landfill are anxious to find out when cleanup will start, but a spokesman for the EPA told KMOX the meeting will reveal more about groundwater contamination at West Lake Landfill -- a timetable for digging hasn't been set."We know the groundwater is contaminated, we just don't know how far offsite it's gotten," Chapman said. "[The EPA] has to find the extent of the plume if there is one offsite, then they'll surround it with wells and try to hold it in place.

"The hope would be that you could hold the pollution where it is and keep it from moving towards the river."Additional editing by Alex Degman
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