Spike in EPA Superfund delistings includes Wildwood site, though concerns remain in community

Jan. 14--Despite reductions to its staff and budget over the last year, the Environmental Protection Agency managed to remove Superfund sites from its National Priorities List at an accelerated pace, including part of a dioxin-afflicted site in Wildwood, where concern remains among some community members.

The removal of the eight-acre property, known as the Callahan subsite of the three-part Ellisville Superfund site, marks the first time a National Priorities List site in St. Louis County or adjacent counties has been delisted, or deleted, since Times Beach in 2001 -- where related dioxin contamination helped wipe an entire community off the map.

Deletion is achieved when all remedies "are successfully implemented and no further cleanup is required to protect human health or the environment," according to a recent EPA release summarizing delistings in 2017.

At the Callahan site, just west of the Ellisville town limits, remediation efforts have entailed the removal of drums of "paint-related waste and solvents" dumped on the property several decades ago by the Bliss Waste Oil Co., along with soil potentially contaminated by their contents.

"The EPA removed all contaminated soil down to bedrock at the Callahan subsite then collected confirmation samples on the sidewalls to confirm that clean-up was achieved both vertically and laterally," the agency reported in the Federal Register in July.

It added that "there is not contamination to disturb through future construction," and that PCBs and dioxin -- a highly toxic compound that can cause cancer and other health issues -- "were not detected above clean-up criteria and are not considered contaminants of concern at the Callahan subsite."

But some local residents aren't convinced about the site's safety, echoing long-held doubts that have festered for years.

Tammy Shea, a Wildwood City Council member, says she has "concerns about lingering exposure routes," particularly when it comes to groundwater.

That's because virtually across the street from the Callahan property is the 11-acre Bliss subsite, which remains part of the Superfund National Priorities List. That property had 24,700 tons of dioxin-contaminated soil removed from it in the 1990s, among other hazards, according to the EPA. Subsequent work completed in 2015 resulted in the removal of another 1,545 tons of dioxin-contaminated soil.

Alluding to some past reports that have challenged the EPA's level of risk assessment, Shea believes that there are already homes "too close to these properties," and worries about the prospect of future development in the wake of Callahan's deletion.

"The delisting really should just move all people to be super cautious now," said Shea, adding that local government may be exposed to liability if ensuing development is linked to health issues among residents.

"That liability comes back to the permitting entity, which in this case would be the city of Wildwood," she said. "It rightly puts (the city) in a very precautionary position."

But even with the site's history of hazardous waste, she is nervous that development is inevitable, especially in a community known for expensive real estate.

"Some developers will heed the warning but for others, it's a bargain hunt," said Shea. "They're going to lurch toward it."

The seven Superfund deletions from the National Priorities List in 2017 more than tripled the two deletions achieved in 2016, the last full year under former agency leadership.

"We have made it a priority to get these sites cleaned up faster and in the right way," said new EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, appointed by President Donald Trump.

But even though the Callahan site attained deletion under Pruitt, on-site remediation work at the property has not been conducted since 2012, and the site was originally proposed for delisting in 2016. Other recently deleted sites touted by the new EPA administration also had their on-the-ground work completed prior to the Trump presidency.

Beyond deleting Superfund sites from the National Priorities List, the EPA under Pruitt has also targeted 21 sites for "immediate and intense attention -- a direct response to the Superfund Task Force Recommendations issued this summer," the agency said.

That list includes West Lake Landfill in Bridgeton, which contains Manhattan Project-era radioactive waste and borders an adjacent landfill where an underground fire is smoldering. A long-anticipated decision about a cleanup strategy at that site is expected to be announced this month.

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