Near the St. Louis suburb of Bridgeton, there is a massive landfill filled with radioactive waste. Below it, according to The Washington Post -- some 60 to 200 feet down -- is rapidly decomposing waste that is smoldering in a "sub-surface burning event."
"The underground burn is only a few thousand feet from a Superfund site filled with waste from the World War II-era Manhattan Project," the report goes on to say.
Ok, a "few" thousand feet isn't that close, but still, why not just put the fire out? It seems no one but local residents is all that concerned.
The EPA is citing air-quality measurements as being within an acceptable range, and are assuring residents that scientists have determined that the burn isn't that close to the radioactive material. Though further litigation is pending, the EPA and Republic Services, the owner of the landfill, maintain that "the landfill is in a managed state."
Surely these are some of the same assurances the EPA cited before lead poisoned the water in Flint, Michigan or the "managed" Superfund mine site in Colorado that burst forth and turned the surrounding water systems a toxic orange. If I were the EPA, I'd be busting ass to make sure that didn't happen again on my watch. Who can say how quickly that fire could begin to burn in any one direction?
I'd trust the word of an ayatollah before I'd trust the EPA -- and I mean that with all my heart.
ReplyDeleteHey, if the name 'Manhattan' is attached to it it can't be ALL bad right?
ReplyDeleteIt simply may not be as easy as it sounds to extinguish, if it's anything at all like coal seam fires that have been burning in Colorado for decades.
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