Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Wildwood city officials were both applauded and challenged about decision to spend more money on assessing recent U.S. Environmental Protection Agency report of former Superfund site and proposed home area.
Once Wildwood City Council members voted by majority at Monday's council meeting to spend up to $10,000 with environmental consultants to analyze and reassess the final report provided last week by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials, residents expressed both support and opposition to the continued pursuit to discern whether select property in Wildwood is truly safe after it was a former Superfund site three decades ago. See Monday article as background prior to meeting: Wildwood City Leader Seeks Legal, Technical Clarifications of EPA Report on Proposed Strecker Forest Homes In Monday's council work session, Wildwood City Administrator Dan Dubruiel reiterated that the city needed to "preserve all our legal options." He said …
Monday, June 25, 2012
A discussion about authorizing more environmental consulting work is slated to occur at Monday evening's work session of Wildwood City Council members, following a final report of Environmental Protection Agency experts Thursday.
Are official viewpoints of the leading, national environmental authorities enough, and are they trustworthy? Wildwood city representatives are asking this (multi)million dollar question. After U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials delivered what was classified as a final report of the Strecker Forest Expanded Site Review on Thursday evening at a public open house, Wildwood City Council members are scheduled to discuss whether to authorize $7,500 to $10,000 more environmental consultation work to assess EPA's results at Monday evening's work session. A legal-based time bomb is ticking in that the judge handling the four-year legal dispute between Wildwood and custom home builder Wesley Byrnes indicated he intends to schedule a …
Friday, June 22, 2012
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency experts provided a final report on Thursday evening for the Strecker Forest Expanded Site Review recently conducted in Wildwood.
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. Wildwood 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 …
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Environmental Protection Agency officials will deliver results of a recent reassessment report, and take questions Thursday evening at a public open house at 7 p.m. See why this report is so critical.
Wildwood city officials and residents alike are holding their breaths to see what Environmental Protection Agency Region 7 team members will tell them Thursday evening about the current risks and overall safety of a certain portion of the city that still remains on the Final National Priorities List (NPL). This is a list on which the environmental group keeps known releases or threatened releases of hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants throughout the United States and its territories. The NPL guides EPA experts' decisions regarding which sites warrant further investigation. The Bliss-Ellisville Superfund site, located in what is now Wildwood, went on the NPL in 1983. EPA's present designation of this site is reflected as the "…
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Former Superfund area in Wildwood gets reassessed by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency team. Are contaminants at levels that threaten human health? EPA will host open house Thursday evening. Read the final report.
A proposed home development subdivision on property in Wildwood that used to be one of the worst Superfund sites in U.S. history is declared safe for human use and living for a second time, based on dust, soil, metal and water samples taken and reassessed recently by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 7 team. Highly controversial issues surrounding a proposed custom home subdivision on 18.3 acres in Wildwood will come to a head Thursday evening when EPA officials host an open house to deliver their final findings of the area, as previously reported in Eureka-Wildwood Patch. See related article: EPA to Host Open House for Wildwood, Final Strecker Forest Development Report The lengthy final EPA report for the Strecker Forest …
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Environmental Protection Agency Region 7: "EPA has no reason to believe (Robert) Feild has mishandled any documents in connection with Wildwood."
In response to the article entitled EPA Project Manager Related to Wildwood Dioxin Accused of Hiding Information published Tuesday morning in Eureka-Wildwood Patch, an EPA spokesperson emailed a complete agency response. Patch is publishing it in its entirety and verbatim: "The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's engagement with city officials and community members in Wildwood has been extensive and has stressed transparency of agency actions. The agency is committed to practicing sound science and clear communication in connection with sampling results and environmental assessments in Wildwood. EPA has engaged a team of professionals including engineers, geologists, chemists, statisticians, attorneys and community involvement …
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Former Times Beach, MO, Mayor Marilyn Leistner is now a Eureka alderman. She wonders why the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency wants to return to the worst dioxin contamination site—her former city.
Marilyn Leistner no longer governs a city as mayor. Residents of her former municipality, Times Beach, MO, disbanded the city after avalanches of challenges once it was discovered the worst dioxin chemical contamination in history occurred there. Now U.S. Environmental Protection Agency representatives are returning to Leistner's non-existent town Tuesday to collect new soil samples to test, an area that eventually was made into Route 66 State Park. See related Eureka-Wildwood Patch article from Monday: EPA Revisits Times Beach Former Dioxin Site 15 Years Later "I'm uncertain what to think about EPA coming back. It sounds like whitewash," said Leistner. "We know dioxin is there (at what now is the park). They cleaned it up to 20 parts per…
Monday, June 4, 2012
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency teams will start taking new soil samples Tuesday afternoon at Route 66 State Park near Eureka, the former dioxin site cleaned up in 1997-1999. They have new technology to apply.
One of the worst dioxin contamination sites in the United States will be revisited, about 15 years after it was made into a Missouri state park. Come Tuesday afternoon, Route 66 State Park visitors near Eureka will see U.S. Environmental Protection Agency teams again digging in soil at the park. Tuesday will represent the first time new EPA technology will be applied anywhere in the United States. Being called "the ideal field laboratory" by EPA experts, EPA’s pilot study at Route 66 State Park located off Interstate 44 is expected to produce new data and information to contribute to EPA’s broader knowledge of dioxin, and guide federal and state agencies toward the most effective means of addressing dioxin at other locations. Times Beach …
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
After U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's withdrawal of proposed interim Preliminary Remediation Goals for dioxin in soil, Wildwood representatives wonder what it means to settling local issues hovering over areas near the city's former Superfund site.
Question marks punctuated all attending Wildwood's city council meeting Monday after City Administrator Dan Dubruiel announced U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) officials had removed their interim guidelines for dioxin levels in soil from consideration of the White House Office of Management and Budget. Many Wildwood residents have studied EPA regulations regarding dioxin due to remaining questions about whether potential, residual dioxin contaminants from the city's former Superfund site since migrated through soil, air or water to surrounding neighborhoods. See Tuesday article published in Eureka-Wildwood Patch: EPA Actions Puzzle Wildwood Leaders Wildwood residents, staffers and city council members have been glued for months …
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
What does Environmental Protection Agency's recent withdrawal of dioxin remediation goals mean to Wildwood's anticipation of a final report from the agency regarding the long-term health safety of the city's former Superfund site?
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) officials took unexpected action that has left local experts at a loss, Wildwood's City Administrator Dan Dubruiel told city council members at Monday's council meeting. Dubruiel said the EPA recently withdrew its preliminary dioxin remediation goals (PRG) from the White House Office of Management and Budget review. Wildwood representatives now wonder if that will affect the EPA's rulings on samples recently taken at Wildwood sites that have caused a chain of controversy since 2007. Wildwood representatives for years have been dealing with EPA officials regarding a former Superfund site located in Wildwood, which was remediated and then purchased by a local resident whose goal was to create a new …
Daniel J Topik
11:23 pm on Tuesday, June 26, 2012
It’s ironic that the only council person to vote against the motion to spend up to $10,000 for the environmental consultants to analyze and reassess the final report provided last week by the EPA is Randy Ladd, Ward 2 whose property is close to the proposed Strecker Forest development. At the very least, Mr. Ladd should have recused himself from this vote, from an ethical standpoint since he has … more ›