Wildwood Mayor States Next Steps After EPA Open House

Three geographic areas of environmental concern in Wildwood were reviewed by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency experts Thursday evening, as a final report to the project called the Strecker Forest Expanded Site Review. residents learned that while this report concludes this part of the overall EPA process, EPA's involvement in the former Superfund area called the Bliss-Ellisville site "is not over."

The open house occurred at the Daniel Boone Library Branch in Ellisville.

Overview of Project, Per New EPA Fact Sheet:

Strecker Forest Homesites

The southern portion of the 18-acre parcel where new homesites are proposed is free of contaminants exceeding a level of concern, except for a small, isolated area where elevated dioxin levels appear to remain from past burning of household trash. This material can be excavated and disposed of safely at an ordinary landfill, stated the EPA officials Thursday evening.

Strecker Forest Preservation Area

Two areas comprising approximately 1/2 acre in the northeast corner and along the eastern side of the property need further assessment to characterize risks associated with soil dioxin levels originating from the adjacent Bliss-Ellisville site. Shallow groundwater in this area also warrants further investigation. Otherwise, this portion of the parcel is free of contamination, stated the EPA representatives at the open house.

Callahan Poperty

This area is free of contamination except for soils with elevated levels of chromium and lead in an area where drums were removed and disposed in the early 1980s. Using data gathered for the Expanded Site Review, EPA began an assessment for the excavation and removal of this paint waste material.

The fact sheet also described dioxins as a family of compounds created during different types of combustion processes. Dioxins are ubiquitous (found in soil everywhere) in the environment, according to EPA experts. Some dioxins, such as those found at the adjacent Bliss-Ellisville site are discarded wastes from certain pesticide manufacturing processes and are highly regulated by EPA. Other dioxins, such as those found in the Strecker homesite area, can be safely disposed in ordinary landfills.

Editor's Note:  Attendees at the open house agreed that the identified area in question for the Strecker Forest (home building) Development could quickly and easily be rectified, assuming cooperation with the landowner Wesley Byrne. Come back to Eureka-Wildwood Patch for further articles that detail the status of this project, technical explanations and attendees' reactions. For background about this matter, read more than a dozen previously published articles by Eureka-Wildwood Patch—links to those articles are displayed on the righthand side of this page.