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Missouri Warned Feds in 2021 Radioactive Contamination of Groundwater Wasn’t Improving | St. Louis Metro News | St. Louis

Published

2 years ago

July 18, 2023

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click to enlarge ALLISON KITE/MISSOURI INDEPENDENT A containment cell covered with rock holds the debris from a demolished uranium processing facility in Weldon Spring and radioactive waste from the Cold War.

Missouri environmental regulators warned the federal government in 2021 that radioactive contamination of groundwater from a uranium processing site near St. Louis wasn’t improving despite cleanup efforts, according to documents reviewed by the Missouri Independent and MuckRock.

Officials with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources wrote a letter to the U.S. Department of Energy in May 2021, responding to the agency’s five-year review of its cleanup efforts at a Weldon Spring site where uranium was refined during the Cold War.

While the radioactive waste and contaminated debris from the processing site have been contained, Missouri regulators noted that contamination to the surrounding groundwater wasn’t getting better.

“The (state) disagrees that the remedy is functioning as intended,” wrote Taylor Grabner, who at the time was serving in the federal facilities section of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.

The letter, which has not been reported publicly, is the latest example of Missouri officials pushing the federal government to do more to protect the health of St. Louis-area residents near the litany of World War II and Cold War-era nuclear sites in the region.

A six-month investigation by the Independent, MuckRock and the Associated Press found that federal agencies and private companies, for decades, downplayed concerns about radiological contamination or failed to investigate it fully at sites in St. Louis and St. Charles counties.

The state’s dour opinion of the federal cleanup in Weldon Spring was revealed in a document obtained by state Representative Tricia Byrnes through Missouri’s Sunshine Law and provided to the newsrooms. Byrnes plans to hold a town hall meeting next month so the community can learn about cleanup efforts.

St. Louis and surrounding areas played a key role in the development of the first atomic bomb during World War II. Uranium processed in downtown St. Louis was used in the first sustained nuclear reaction in Chicago. After the war, Mallinckrodt, which operated the downtown plant, started similar operations at a new facility on Missouri Highway 94 just north of the Missouri River.

The more than 200-acre site has been contaminated for decades by radium, thorium and uranium as well as dangerous non-radioactive chemicals from its use to manufacture explosives and process uranium ore.

The Weldon Spring plant was demolished and the debris buried, along with residue leftover from uranium processing, in a 41-acre containment cell covered with rock. The containment cell, the highest point in St. Charles County, is accessible to the public and has a monument to the communities displaced by the war effort and information on the cleanup effort at the top.

Closer to the Missouri River, a quarry the federal government used to store radioactive waste was also contaminated. It’s separated from the main site but part of the same cleanup and monitoring effort.

Remediation of the plant is complete, but for years the contaminated groundwater has only been monitored. In recent years, that monitoring has shown uranium contamination is not decreasing.

“The [state] has consistently expressed concern that further delineation of contamination … was necessary to better define the extent of groundwater contamination,” Missouri officials wrote in 2017.

It’s unclear whether conditions at the Weldon Spring site have improved since 2021.

The Department of Energy declined to answer questions directly but supplied a letter it sent in response acknowledging the state’s concerns. In its 2021 annual report, the agency said it would “evaluate alternative solutions for removing residual uranium sources and restoring groundwater.”

The Environmental Protection Agency shared some of the state’s concerns that the groundwater monitoring network was insufficient and the groundwater is not projected to be restored in a reasonable timeframe. But the agency said the publicly-accessible areas nearby, including state conservation areas and trails, are safe “for their intended use of recreation.”

The Missouri Department of Natural Resources did not answer questions from journalists about its letter.

Missouri regulators outlined a number of shortcomings in the draft five-year review, including that “the remedy is not projected to meet the (objective) of restoring groundwater to its beneficial use within a reasonable timeframe.”

The state said its federal counterparts with the Environmental Protection Agency had “mentioned numerous times” that the site is only “short-term protective.”

Beyond that, the state says, the extent of the contamination hasn’t been sufficiently defined, meaning it could be more widespread than the Department of Energy knows based on its sampling. The federal sampling program, the state argues, is inadequate.

Uranium levels in the slough next to Femme Osage Creek aren’t decreasing, the state noted. A public lake has levels of uranium slightly above what is natural.

Missouri regulators, in their letter, repeatedly corrected the Department of Energy when the federal agency said uranium levels were falling in groundwater wells at the site.

In a response to the state, the federal government said it would revise its conclusion that the remedy was working.

“No, the remedy is not functioning as intended by the decision document,” the finalized review says. “The remedy is short-term protective, however there are early indicators of potential issues.”

While a spokesperson for the Missouri Department of Natural Resources said keeping citizens informed “is always a priority,” Byrnes said state officials should have alerted the public that they didn’t feel the remediation was working.

Elected last year, Byrnes swam in the contaminated quarry as a teen and attended Francis Howell High School, which is just down the road from the chemical plant site.

“Had I not specifically asked,” said Byrnes, a Wentzville Republican, “I’d still be in the dark.”

This story originally appeared in the Missouri Independent.

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Fenton Man Charged in Sword Attack on Roommate

Published

1 year ago

May 22, 2024

Natural Bridge

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A warrant is out for a Fenton man’s arrest after he allegedly attacked his roommate with a sword.

Police say that on Sunday, Angelus Scott spoke openly about “slicing his roommate’s head” before he grabbed a sword, raised it up and then swung it down at the roommate.

The roommate grabbed Scott’s hand in time to prevent injury. When police arrived at the scene, they found the weapon used in the assault.

The sword in question was a katana, which is a Japanese sword recognizable for its curved blade.

This isn’t the first time a samurai-style sword has been used to violent effect in St. Louis. In 2018, a man hearing voices slaughtered his ex-boyfriend with a samurai sword. His mother said he suffered from schizoaffective disorder.

As for Scott, 35, the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office was charged yesterday with two felonies, assault first degree and armed criminal action. The warrant for his arrest says he is to be held on $200,000 bond.

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Caught on Video, Sheriff Says He’s Ready to ‘Turn It All Over’ to Deputy

Published

1 year ago

May 22, 2024

Natural Bridge

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Video of St. Louis Sheriff Vernon Betts taken by a former deputy suggests that the sheriff has a successor in mind to hand the reins of the department over to, even as Betts is in an increasingly heated campaign for reelection.

“I ain’t here for all this rigmarole,” Betts says in the video while seated behind his desk at the Carnahan Courthouse. “The Lord sent me here to turn this department around and I’m doing the best I can and I think I’ve done a good job. I’ve got about eight months and I’m going to qualify for my fourth pension.”

He goes on, “Right now I can walk up out of here and live happily ever after and forget about all this…and live like a king.”

The sheriff then says his wife has been in Atlanta looking at houses and that the other deputy in the room, Donald Hawkins, is someone Betts has been training “to turn it all over to him.”

Asked about the video, Betts tells the RFT, “My future plans are to win reelection on August 6th by a wide margin and to continue my mission as the top elected law enforcement official to make St. Louis safer and stronger. Serving the people of St. Louis with integrity, honor and professional law enforcement qualifications is a sacred responsibility, and I intend to complete that mission.”

The video of Betts was taken by Barbara Chavers, who retired from the sheriff’s office in 2016 after 24 years of service. Chavers now works security at Schnucks at Grand and Gravois. Betts’ brother Howard works security there, too.

Chavers tells the RFT that she was summoned to Betts’ office last week after Betts’ brother made the sheriff aware that she was supporting Montgomery. It was no secret: Chavers had filmed a Facebook live video in which she said she was supporting Betts’ opponent Alfred Montgomery in the election this fall. “Make the judges safe,” she says in the video, standing in front of a large Montgomery sign on Gravois Avenue. “They need a sheriff who is going to make their courtrooms safe.”

In his office, even as Chavers made clear she was filming him, Betts told Chavers he was “flabbergasted” and “stunned” she was supporting Montgomery.

“I don’t know what I did that would make you go against the preacher man,” he says, referring to himself. He then refers to Montgomery as “ungodly.”

Betts goes on to say that not long ago, he was walking in his neighborhood on St. Louis Avenue near 20th Street when suddenly Montgomery pulled up in his car and, according to Betts, shouted, “You motherfucker, you this, you that. You’re taking my signs down.”

Montgomery tells the RFT that he’s never interacted with Betts outside of candidate forums and neighborhood meetings.

“I don’t think anyone with good sense would do something like that to a sitting sheriff,” Montgomery says.

Montgomery has had campaign signs missing and on at least two occasions has obtained video of people tearing them down. (Chavers notes that the sign that she filmed her original Facebook video in front of is itself now missing.)

One man who lives near Columbus Square says that he recently put out two Montgomery signs, which later went missing. “If they keep taking them, I’ll keep putting them up,” he said.

Betts says he has nothing to do with the missing signs. In the video Chavers filmed in Betts’ office, Betts says that his campaign isn’t in a spot where it needs to resort to tearing down opponents’ signs.

“If you sit here long enough, a man is getting ready to come across the street from City Hall bringing me $500, today,” Betts says. “I’m getting that kind of support. I don’t need to tear down signs.”

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St. Louis to Develop First Citywide Transportation Plan in Decades

Published

1 year ago

May 21, 2024

Natural Bridge

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The City of St. Louis is working to develop its first citywide mobility plan in decades, Mayor Tishaura Jones’ office announced Tuesday. This plan seeks to make it easier for everyone — drivers, pedestrians, bikers and public transit users — to safely commute within the city.

The plan will bring together other city projects like the Brickline Greenway, Future64, the MetroLink Green Line, and more, “while establishing new priorities for a safer, more efficient and better-maintained transportation network across the City,” according to the release.

The key elements in the plan will be public engagement, the development of a safety action plan, future infrastructure priorities and transportation network mapping, according to Jones’ office.

The overarching goals are to create a vision for citywide mobility, plan a mixture of short and long-term mobility projects and to develop improved communication tools with the public to receive transportation updates. In recent years, both people who use public transit and cyclists have been outspoken about the difficulties — and dangers — of navigating St. Louis streets, citing both cuts to public transit and traffic violence.

To garner public input and participation for the plan, Jones’ office said there will be community meetings, focus groups and a survey for residents to share their concerns. The city will also be establishing a Community Advisory Committee. Those interested in learning more should check out at tmp-stl.com/

“Everyone deserves to feel safe when getting around St. Louis, whether they’re driving, biking, walking or taking public transit,” Jones said in a news release. “Creating a comprehensive transportation and mobility plan allows us to make intentional and strategic investments so that moving around St. Louis for jobs, education, and entertainment becomes easier, safer and more enjoyable.”

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