Catastrophic Oil Spill in Mauritius Is A Worldwide Problem

Cleome Barber was born in South Bend, Indiana to a Mauritian mother and British father and has lived here in the U.S., in Mauritius, France, and England. A recent graduate of Columbia University, she's currently living in New York City working for the Color of Music Collective, an organization dedicated to amplifying the voices of people of color and LGBTQ+ individuals working in the music industry. Because she's the only person I know from Mauritius and because Climate Change is one of the issues that motivates her, I asked her to share her perspective on the catastrophic Mauritian oil spill.





What An Unprecedented Environmental Disaster On One Small Island Can Teach Us About The Immediate Necessity Of Ecological Preservation
by Cleome Barber

On July 25th, the Japanese bulk carrier ship MV Wakashio plowed directly into the coral reef that surrounds the tropical African island of Mauritius. After 13 days, the vessel’s hull slowly split open and its fuel tanks began to leak into the country’s world-famous lagoons, setting off an extremely dangerous ecological disaster. This tragedy, which threatens not only the fragile Mauritian ecosystem but also the country’s economy, was entirely preventable. As the Trump administration finalizes its plans to drill in the Alaskan Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the situation in Mauritius is more pertinent than ever. What can we learn about the importance of ecological preservation from its mishandling?

Mauritius: from Dodo bird extinction to oil spill eco-disaster

After growing up with a Mauritian mother and calling the small country my home from 2009-2010, I’ve learned first-hand what a special place it is. Mauritius is an independent nation off the south-eastern coast of Africa (think Madagascar, but much smaller at only 35 miles long, and about 700 miles farther into the middle of the Indian Ocean). It’s a volcanic island with spectacular mountains, masses of sugar cane fields, and stunning white sand beaches. One of its most impressive features is the coral reef which surrounds the island. The reef acts as an important ecosystem for small fish and other organisms while also creating a blockade against large waves and predators like sharks. As a result of this barrier, the water in the lagoons between the reef and beaches is perfectly still and crystal clear, making the island a dream vacation destination.

The island’s geography is only one of the many incredible characteristics of this small nation. With no indigenous human population, Mauritius has a long and involved history of colonization. After its initial discovery by Portuguese sailors in 1507, the Dutch established a series of settlements on the island as a stopover for ships to help break up their long ocean voyages. In 1715, France took control of the island, establishing important ports and agricultural infrastructure. In 1810, the sugar plantation island was ceded to the United Kingdom until 1968, when the long-time colony finally gained its independence and became the Republic of Mauritius. The Dutch, French, and British all relied on the labor of slaves to build their successful colony. With the abolition of slavery under the British in 1835, former slaveowners were compensated for their loss while former slaves were left destitute and required to fulfill a mandatory period of labor for their previous enslavers as a condition of emancipation. It was during this time that the British developed their indenture system using workers from India in the sugar industry, and leaving the former enslaved Africans little recourse but to move to the coast where they subsisted on fishing. It is their descendants, still settled at the shore, who are most directly affected by the oil spill, which is endangering their health, and making their livelihood extremely precarious. Due to this complicated history of colonization and enslavement, the modern population of Mauritius, which sits around 1.3 million, is remarkably diverse. The majority of Mauritians today are of Indian, French, English, African or Chinese descent, and most (like my mother) are at least trilingual, speaking Mauritian Creole, French, and English.

Like the human population, the flora and fauna of Mauritius is incredibly diverse, owing to the island’s unique volcanic origins and pre-colonial isolation. Many of the plant and animal species that inhabit Mauritius are endemic, meaning that they exist only on the main island and its islets. As humans colonized the land and brought new alien species with them, over 100 Mauritian species became extinct and many more are still endangered today. Perhaps the most famous of these now extinct endemic species is the Dodo bird which was killed off by Dutch settlers and their ship rats by the end of the 1600s. Today, groups like the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation have been actively working to protect endangered species like the Mauritian Fody and Pink Pigeon to ensure the Dodo’s tragic end isn’t repeated. Collaboratively with similar organizations, they’ve successfully established many important nature reserves and conservation sites throughout the island. When the Wakashio plunged into the Mauritian reef, these protected species and their ecosystems faced the immediate threat of extinction, undoing decades of impressive work from conservation organizations like the MWF.

The Wakashio crash: a lesson in accountability and stepping up for the environment

At present, the question on everyone’s mind is: how the hell did this happen? Owned by the Japanese Nagashiki Shipping Co and licensed in Panama, MV Wakashio was traveling along a common shipping route to South America. According to satellite imaging, Wakashio was predicted to collide with Mauritius several days in advance. However, there were no attempts made by either the sailors or Mauritian officials to shift the boat’s trajectory. Even as Wakashio approached the island, the vessel made no effort to slow down or change direction. Nagashiki Shipping Co has since accepted responsibility for the catastrophe and issued a formal apology, yet the full extent of aid they are extending to mitigate the travesty is unclear.

After its unprecedented collision, the carrier sat on the reef with fuel tanks still intact for 13 days before 1,000+ tons of oil spilled out through the cracked hull and into the lagoon. Only one mile away, the Ile Aux Aigrettes islet, a crucial Mauritian Wildlife Foundation conservation site, was put in immediate danger. During those 13 days before the leak, Mauritian authorities stalled, missing the opportunity to initiate an operation that would preemptively remove oil from the ship’s tanks prior to its disintegration. When oil began to spill, the MWF acted quickly to remove hundreds of plants and animals from Ile Aux Aigrettes to nurseries until a solution is found. 10 days later, the remaining 3,000 tons of fuel were successfully extracted, and on August 16th, the vessel split fully in half. The next task at hand will be for authorities to tow the larger half out to sea where it can sink, while the smaller half will remain lodged in the reef.

With intervention from both the Nagashiki Shipping Company and the Mauritian government  woefully nonexistent, Mauritian residents took matters into their own hands. France was the only country to answer the call for help, but it was left to Mauritians to spearhead, organize and implement an ingenious ad-hoc eco rescue mission. Using social media, thousands of volunteers from across the island quickly mobilized to contain the oil spill. Mauritians collected fabric, sugar cane straw left over from the recent harvest, and plastic bottles to construct long booms that prevent oil from spreading on the water’s surface. To advance efforts and compensate for a lack of external foreign aid, Mauritians even trimmed their own hair to provide extra padding for the makeshift booms. Despite the many health risks, Mauritian citizens moved to the frontlines and fought for their environment and livelihoods where authorities had faltered.

While the efforts of resident volunteers have been essential for dealing with immediate clean-up, questions of long-term effects on Mauritian life are moving into focus. After the current situation is controlled and oil is contained, there will be many prolonged environmental implications. For instance, the affected coastline and neighboring beaches will be polluted for years to come. This means that not only fish, birds, and coral are in danger, but the health of fishermen, swimmers, and those reliant on the tourism industry is also jeopardized. The damage done to the reef itself also has significant long-term implications. Coral reefs provide many crucial services like regulating water temperature, sea levels, and ocean acidification. Already fragile because of the effects of climate change, this crash has aggravated the reef’s ecosystem to the extent that it is unlikely to ever recover.

I am endlessly proud of the Mauritian people who united and mobilized immediately to save their environment. However, this incident serves as a bleak reminder of the negligence that leads to so many preventable environmental disasters. As global warming persists and human-fueled climate change continues to cause so many ecological catastrophes around the world, who will be burdened with the task of cleaning up the mess?

Moving forward, there are several immediate issues we must address in order to prevent the mishandling of environmental crises like this one:

• We need to urge the acceleration of a transition to electric shipping fleets. This ensures that in the event of another vessel crash, there is no fuel on board to create another dangerous oil spill.
• We need to elect officials who understand the impending threat of climate change and will support funding research into new technologies that reverse its effects and mitigate damage caused by incidents like this.
• Immediately, we must also pressure Congress to reverse Alaskan drilling plans. Placing protected wildlife at risk for the excavation of oil is never worth it.

Additional actions for those looking to support Mauritian clean-up efforts:

• Donate to Eco-Sud, an environmental NGO in the affected Blue Bay-Mahébourg area assisting with all disaster-related expenses
• Donate to the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation to support their conservation efforts (mention “Wakashio” in the message to ensure funds are directed to this disaster)
• Contact the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation if you can offer professional expertise for immediate clean-up efforts and solutions that will alleviate long-term effects of this disaster

Trump And Pruitt Are Slashing Great Lakes Clean Up Funding From $300 Million To... $10 Million

Trump wants to build up the military and cut taxes for the wealthy, so he's busy slashing budgets. One victim is funding for Great Lakes cleanup-- by a phenomenal 97%! Is that what he meant by Making America Great Again? That's a fifth of the world's freshwater!

The White House is proposing to slash Environmental Protection Agency funding that pays for Great Lakes pollution cleanup by 97 percent, according to a budget document obtained by the National Association of Clean Air Agencies.

The potential cuts are part of President Donald Trump's initial 2018 budget proposal, detailed in a U.S. Office of Management and Budget "passback" to the EPA that outlines drastic cuts to an agency Trump has called a "job killer" and promised to reduce to "tidbits" as a candidate.

The proposal would virtually eliminate annual Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) funding, slashing it from $300 million to $10 million among other cuts that would altogether reduce the EPA's total budget by a quarter.

...The GLRI funds state and local projects that combat invasive species, restore wildlife habitats and clean up watersheds polluted by a Rust Belt economic legacy across the eight-state Great Lakes region. It has traditionally enjoyed strong bipartisan support in Congress, who in the past have restored smaller, $50 million cuts proposed under President Barack Obama.

In December, Congress authorized the GLRI at $300 million a year through 2021 with standalone authorization, meaning Congress could choose to restore funding up to that level each year even if Trump holds to the proposed cut.

Brian Patrick, spokesperson for U.S. House Great Lakes Task Force Chair Rep. Bill Huizenga, R-Zeeland, said the White House could expect Republican pushback from the delegation if the proposed GLRI cuts remain.

...A coalition of environmental and conservation groups that advocates for GLRI funding said the cuts would devastate a working program.

I bet this isn't something the Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania voters who gave us Trump had in mind! Nor what voters in upstate New York near Lakes Ontario and Erie had in mind-- nor the voters in MN-08 along the western shores of Lake Superior. Huizenga's district, (MI-02) stretches along Lake Michigan from Macatawa, past Grand Haven, Muskegon right up to the shore of Hamlin Lake. People are serious about lake living-- deadly serious. I wonder how many are having an "oops" moment. After all, Trump won MI-02 by a wide margin-- 55.8% to 38.2%. It was one of the districts that gave Trump his 11,692 votes win (out of 4.5 million votes cast statewide) in Michigan.

Four New York districts bordering on Great Lakes went for Trump, including Chris Collins' district, NY-27, which is the only congressional district that is located along both Lake Ontario and Lake Erie... and gave Trump his widest margin anywhere in the state-- 59.7% to 35.2%. These are how many people in the Lake shore counties that are part of NY-27 voted for Trump:

• Erie- 188,303
• Niagara- 51,961
• Orleans- 10,936

There are 10 Republicans on the House Great Lakes Task Force-- Jack Bergman (R-MI), Chris Collins (R-NY), Sean Duffy (R-WI), Bill Huizenga (R-MI), David Joyce (R-OH), Mike Kelly (R-PA), Paul Mitchell (R-MI), Jim Renacci (R-OH), Fred Upton (R-MI) and Jackie Walorski (R-IN). Trump won all their districts.

Virulent anti-environment congressman Peter Roskam chose not to join the Task Force even though the social and economic importance of the Illinois coast is gigantic, bordering, the most populous part of the state and including some of the most valued real estate in the Midwest. It's the most densely populated coastal area in the entire Great Lakes region, extending 63 miles along the southern reach of the western shore of Lake Michigan. The state’s jurisdiction extends across a portion of the lake, covering approximately 1,500 square miles. Roskam's likely opponent in 2018 is Geoff Petzel, who has a very different perspective on environmental protection than Roskam. And Petzel has been very outspoken about Trump's threats to the EPA. Friday he told us that "unfortunately, Trump's proposal to cut EPA funding is consistent with the overall position of his administration. It is remarkably pro-business and racist. First and foremost, his proposal would eliminate the environmental justice programs the EPA administers in generally low income, high minority, heavily polluted urban areas. These programs are intended to reduce pollution and avoid new pollution sources from being placed in low income and minority communities where these populations are often unable to fight back and already have a disproportionally high concentration of polluting facilities. Trump's proposal also ensures that environmental enforcement budgets will be slashed and large companies will be able to pollute more without fear of enforcement. Donald Trump promised to drain the swamp… his recent decision to overturn an Obama Administration rule that protects wetlands and streams ensures that Donald Trump’s decisions will literally cause the draining of swamps. Now with his budget cuts, we will also be faced with dirtier waters, dirtier air and a less healthy environment."

I wonder how many Republican congressman with districts along the shores of the Great Lakes are going to lose their seats in 2018 over this. And seperately, the Washington Post reported yesterday that the Regime is slashing the budget of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which would also "eliminate funding for a variety of smaller programs including external research, coastal management, estuary reserves and ‘coastal resilience,’ which seeks to bolster the ability of coastal areas to withstand major storms and rising seas." This is one of the country's top climate science agencies and the Regime is eager to deliver "steep cuts to research funding and satellite programs."

UPDATE: It's Not Just The Great Lakes, Of Course

This morning Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) explained this catastrophic budget proposal to her Seattle constituents, because Trump's plan envisions a 93% cut to critical efforts to restore Puget Sound.

President Trump is adamant about destroying everything we cherish as a community. Reports of a budget proposal from the administration that would cut 93% of EPA's funding to restore and recover the Sound would devastate our local economy, and ruin one of Washington’s most essential bodies of water.

There are few things more important to the future of our children than our air, water, and human health. This is what the EPA oversees. By slashing this agency, President Trump is putting our children and our planet at great risk. I intend to do everything I can to fight back against the Trump administration’s irresponsible, ill-conceived budget proposals.

You Don’t Have To Eat The Caulking: The Jennifer DeNicola Story, From Malibu to DC And Back-- Running For Malibu City Council

-by Dorothy Reik

It all started in 2014 when three teachers in Malibu got thyroid cancer. The long ago banned carcinaogen, PCB, was found at the school. Was it the cause? There was the usual back and forth with the Santa Monica Malibu School Board downplaying the danger and claiming that you had to practically eat the caulking to be poisoned. Hint: it’s an airborne poison. Then Jennifer DeNicola stepped in:

“Jennifer deNicola, a parent who serves on the district's Malibu Schools Environmental Task Force, has launched the group Malibu Unites for Healthy Schools, which is seeking comprehensive toxin testing of both campuses. After that, she says, "We can sit down collaboratively with the parents and the teachers and the district and figure out the best solution for our school."

The school board wasn’t having any of it so the battle was on. It’s always good to have a celebrity and Cindy Crawford, who had recently pulled her kids out of Malibu High due to the PCBs, was already on board. Jennifer DeNicola was on her way. Malibu Unites morphed into America Unites for Kids as it became obvious that any school in the country that contained building materials from the years prior to the 1979 EPA ban likely had PCBs in their caulking and elsewhere. The district’s congressman, Ted Lieu, stepped in with support, providing additional test results to the EPA.

Money was raised, a citizens’ lawsuit was filed and Jennifer and her group of activists headed to court. The school district fought back but when the smoke cleared the school board had two and a half years to get rid of the PCBs or the buildings could not be used. Sweet victory!

So on to DC: Jennifer and Cindy Crawford headed for Washington where they were welcomed by the Senate leadership from both parties. The problem was explained. The senators were outraged and promised to help. And they did. Stating that more than fourteen million children were in danger, Senator Ed Markey proposed a bill mandating testing and providing funds for districts that needed money for testing and cleanup. “Decades after the PCB ban, people are still being exposed to these toxic chemicals from various sources, such as caulk, some oil-based paints, and floor finish in buildings constructed between 1950 and 1979; leaking fluorescent light ballast; old electrical equipment; and PCB-containing landfills. Most worrisome are PCB exposures for children in schools built or retrofitted during the period that PCB-containing materials were widely used. Up to 14 million students nationwide, representing nearly 30% of the school-aged population, may be exposed to PCBs in their schools, based on the estimated number of schools built during that time and how much PCB-containing material was used in these schools. A 2016 Harvard School of Public Health study estimates that between 12,960 and 25,920 schools have PCB-containing caulk.

Jennifer DeNicola is now back in Malibu and running for a seat on the Malibu City Council. A troika of bro’s is running a nasty campaign against her, aided and abetted by a local hit sheet called the Local. Jennifer is endorsed by Ted Lieu, Gavin Newsom, Betty Yee, Robert Kennedy, Jr. and now by Erin Brokovich who just gave her the Environmental Working Group (EWG) award. Ken Cook, head of the EWG), was named by The Hill as one if the three most effective grassroots lobbyist in DC. And of the two women running only Jennifer was endorsed by the Sierra Club.

"As a woman in the public eye fighting to protect our children and their future, I know what it takes to be effective in this political climate. Jennifer has the courage, intelligence, and integrity to take on tough issues and succeed. I am behind her and I hope you are too.I am proud to endorse Jennifer deNicola for Malibu City Council and I strongly believe she's going to win! So please make sure you mail in your absentee ballots or go to the polls, this Tuesday, November 8th, 2016. The polls are open from 7am-8pm."
-Erin Brokovich.

Blue America Endorses Maria Chappelle-Nadal

Missouri's first congressional district-- the entire city of St. Louis and the mostly black northern suburbs-- Ferguson, Florissant, Black Jack, Spanish Lake-- is the 385th poorest congressional district of 435 nationally and the poorest in the state. It borders the second congressional district which is one of the richest in the country. MO-01 is a minority majority district (42.9% white) and MO-02 is 88.1% white. The district lines have been carefully drawn to concentrate as many likely Democratic voters into a single district and keep the second CD as Republican as possible. MO-01 has a PVI of D+28 and next door the PVI is R+8. Obama won MO-01 with 80% of the vote both times he ran. McCain won MO-02 with 53% and 4 years later Romney won it with 57%. MO-01 is poorly represented by William "Lacy" Clay (D), who provides a clear reminder of why progressive voters need to organize around fresh, new voices who will upend Capitol Hill, stiff-arm corporate interests, and take back the Democratic Party from the corporate special interests. Even without as stellar as candidate as state Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal, Blue America would be eager to see Clay move on to a predestined job on K Street. An eight-term incumbent he long ago sold out to big banks, payday lenders and other financial parasites that depend on Washington to look the other way while they continue preying on poor and underrepresented communities.

Like the vast majority of the members of the House Financial Services Committee, a bipartisan cesspool of jaw-dropping and grotesque corruption, Clay is, simply put, on the take. The banksters pay off the committee members to give Wall Street a nearly free hand in ripping off the country.

Clay inherited the seat from his father, Bill Clay, a widely respected St. Louis civil rights leader whose legacy the younger Clay has failed to live up to. The district includes Ferguson, where-- in addition to police brutality-- issues of economic inequality and institutional racism caused thousands of protestors, of all backgrounds and ethnicities, to march in the streets. (Not Clay, however, who did not emerge on the scene until long after it was apparent Ferguson would remain a focal point in the national conservation about race and social justice. Even then, Clay participated from a safe distance.)

Despite representing a district with high concentrations of poverty-- half of the public school students receive free and reduced lunch-- Clay has used his position in Washington to carry water for industries like rent-to-own stores, which target minorities and charge usurious interest rates for basic household appliances, such as refrigerators, ovens and washing machines. Clay actually told a room full of rent-to-own operators assembled at an industry convention, "I’ll always do my best to protect what really matters to you."

He has used his perch as ranking member of a key Financial Services subcommittee-- the one that oversees the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau-- to undermine the watchdog role envisioned by U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren when she helped create the agency. No, he's not from the Warren wing of the party; he's from the pay-to-play wing. (Clay’s position on the subcommittee is yet another example of his career benefitting from nepotism-- his cousin, Rep. Maxine Waters, is ranking member for the full committee.)

In the words of respected investigative journalists Zach Carter and Ryan Grim, Clay is one of a handful of Congressional Black Caucus members who have "pushed for a host of seemingly arcane measures that would undermine Dodd-Frank’s rules on financial derivatives, the complex contracts at the heart of the 2008 meltdown."

Clay co-sponsored a measure (H.R. 1077) that would have allowed banks to put back sneaky hidden fees into their loans-- a pitfall that affected many low-income and minority borrowers. When conservative Republicans started signing onto the measure as well, Clay realized how bad the legislation was and actually withdrew his name from the list of co-sponsors, a real Patrick Murphy move. and, like Murphy, he supported legislation that would allow banks to resume trading in "credit default swaps," and pressed financial regulators to allow banks to resume trading risky "collateralized debt obligations," another toxic asset that hastened the financial meltdown.

Clay has held multiple fundraisers at the Washington offices of the Association of Credit and Collection Professionals-- the industry trade group representing bill collectors-- even though a ProPublica investigation showed that bill collectors were disproportionately black consumers in his own district.

Clay’s record on reproductive rights is nothing to write home about either-- not if you're a Democrat. He voted opposite 145 of his Democratic colleagues in supporting the Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act, a bill making it harder for women in states with restrictive laws to get the healthcare they need-- and are legally entitled to under the Constitution. His ProgressivePunch crucial vote lifetime score is a B... and in one of the safest blue districts in the country, a district where the residents deserve a congressman with an A-- and a congressman who shows up to work; Clay has missed 700 roll call votes. Who does, he think he is, Marco Rubio? His absenteeism is 3 times worse than the average congressman. So we decided to endorse the progressive Democrat running for the seat Clay occupies, Maria Chappelle-Nadal. I asked her if she would write a guest post about the race. She said she was really tied up working on a project that is crucial for her constituents. But said she was going to be on a plane and if she could write about that project, she'd do it. The project makes the water catastrophe in Flint look like child's play. Please read and please consider contributing to Maria's grassroots congressional campaign here.

Radioactive Waste Contamination in St. Louis
by Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal

Radioactive waste is a major problem in St. Louis. Usually when people reference St. Louis, one envisions the Arch, our favorite pizza spot-- Imo’s or #Ferguson. For many of us, Ferguson was the tipping point that caused residents to take a step back and reflect on the type of environment in which we chose to live. For many of us, our lives were changed for the better.

I was one of those people whose life was enriched due to the challenges we faced in 2014, that is, until I found out uranium was literally underneath thousands of homes, in creeks and tributaries and in landfills. In 2012, I decided to learn more about radioactive waste in north St. Louis County. My friend and neighbor told me about the issue a couple of years beforehand, but I did not fully grasp the scope of environmental and health ramifications of radioactive waste like I do today. I toured three areas in the newly reapportioned senate district that had radioactive waste-- specifically 48,000 tons of radioactive waste (uranium and thorium) that was illegally dumped into an unlined municipal dump. I discovered that one of the American Water intake sites-- that is responsible for supplying drinking water for all north St. Louis County residents-- is only 8 river miles downstream. During this time of study, our local NPR station had a piece on the high rates of cancer among residents in north St. Louis County. I did not know if the two issues were connected then, but certainly you can understand why it was important study, metabolize and articulate the situation. Eventually, I took an even closer look to see for myself what the areas look like and try to address the questions that lingered. Just before I took the 2012 tour, I held several meetings with environmental advocates in St. Louis and shortly thereafter, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch had a front page article dealing with the EPA and radioactive waste in the same area. Obviously, the stars were aligned.



While I am disappointed with the original decision of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to leave radioactive waste at the site, I was hopeful the EPA would change its mind as a part of its process to reevaluate its longstanding decision. What we are talking about is radioactive waste in our back yards and in some cases, front yards. At the time, there were news reports regarding the EPA’s plan to leave Cold War-era (Manhattan Project) radioactive waste at the West Lake landfill, one of many sites across the St. Louis area that was contaminated with Mallinckrodt Chemical Company’s processed uranium.

In 2008, the EPA announced it would leave the contaminated soil and try to contain the damage by covering the site with debris and monitoring the groundwater around the perimeter; however, this controversial decision was met with backlash from environmentalists. Congressman Russ Carnahan and a few local government entities urged federal officials to reconsider their plan. Bridgeton, Florissant, the City of St. Louis and St. Louis County all passed resolutions against the plan. I discovered Lambert International Airport, which is operated by St. Louis City, opposed the plan to remove radioactive waste because they feared birds would interrupt air traffic. But I had also discovered ways this radioactive waste removal could be contained without disruption to air traffic.

In 2011, the EPA released the findings from a supplemental study that analyzed alternative cleanup options, citing a $450 million cost to haul the waste away compared to $41 million to cap the site. The report also said that digging up the waste and hauling it away could potentially be more dangerous to the community than simply leaving the waste in the ground, where numerous underground water sources could be contaminated. While these concerns are valid, there is simply no way to predict floods, tornados or earthquakes that could irreversibly spread radioactive waste into the Missouri River and into thousands of peoples’ drinking water.

There are several thoughts that resulted from our initial discovery. What puzzles me the most is the fact there are a few sites around St. Louis where the same radioactive waste from Mallinckrodt was being cleaned up, but not at West Lake.

One of the sites I visited under remediation is near Lambert Airport along Coldwater Creek. What I saw were two above ground water treatment structures and a lined pond that contain radioactive water. I was greatly concerned because there was a plastic tube that went from these above ground structures, over the bridge where the creek is and finally into the ground. We are unaware of whether radioactive waste is going into the ground or whether there was liquid that left the ground and went into the nuclear waste. This is still a concern. As recent as the early 2000’s people-- adults and children-- played in Coldwater Creek for recreational purposes. Then, I was unaware if there was a relationship to the disproportionate rates of cancer in north St. Louis County, but it was again one of those red flags that needed to be addressed sooner rather than later.

Next, I visited the West Lake Superfund site in Bridgeton where 48,000 tons of radioactive waste was illegally dumped. Federal regulators have put up a fence around the parameter of the landfill with neon warning signs. Someone who is unfamiliar with this issue would naturally think the property outside of the area is okay. But from what I learned and estimated, that is not the right conclusion. In fact, we should all be concerned about radioactive contaminated groundwater getting into the soil and reservoirs not within the landfill and are headed into in the direction of the Missouri River and into other areas, such as the American Water intake site, residential areas and the businesses in the area.

In 1988, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued a report on West Lake that identified lower-level contamination already exists. (In lay terms, low-level radiation is equivalent to an MRI 24 hours a day.) We discovered that samples as far as 100 yards away contain radioactive waste. At the time, a senator from St. Charles said that his county purchases water from St. Louis County. There were simply too many “what-if’s.”

The cleanup of these sites I am referring to were transferred to the Army Corps of Engineers under a program created in the mid-1970s to help cleanup sites tied to the government’s atomic energy and weapons programs. The reason this is important is because the Missouri Department of Natural Resources did not oversee landfills until the early 1970’s. Meaning the time between the late 1940’s and the 1970’s, we don’t actually know where haulers dumped this radioactive waste.

After my initial findings in 2012, I filed SCR 11 and SCR 23 in 2013 and 2014.  I sponsored these resolutions to encourage Congress to transfer authority for the remediation of the West Lake Landfill radioactive wastes from the EPA to the U.S. Corps of Engineers' Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP). In November of 2015, U.S. Senators Blunt and McCaskill filed Senate Bill No. S.2306. While it took three years for our congressional delegation to move on this very critical issue, I am grateful that Bridgeton and Maryland Heights residents finally get some resolution and attention from Congress.

#Ferguson taught me silence is violence. Unfortunately, for decades, there were too many people who were willing to remain silent as radioactive waste migrated very easily, due to the way it was processed, into parks and tributaries where children play.

I learned there is a direct correlation between the radioactive waste and the cancer and autoimmune diseases in north St. Louis County. The stories I hear are very hard to carry without having your heart sink. This is one of the reasons why I have chosen to dedicate most of my time to raising awareness about such an important issue.

There is another concern all should be aware of-- the numerous retired landfills where people live and raise families atop. Again, families are getting sick and wondering why this is happening. Again, it is not their fault, but the burden of our federal government. There is a former landfill in north St. Louis City near where my father lived. There are retired landfills in unincorporated areas of St. Louis County and well-established municipalities too.

The narratives I have heard include a 16-year-old who died due to testicular cancer. He lived above an out-of-use landfill that has never been tested with gamma, alpha or beta monitoring devices. Across the street from him, a 19-year old girl died of a brain tumor. There are a number of people that have gotten and died from brain tumors and brain cancer or have become victim to a number of autoimmune diseases. Appendix cancer typically occurs in 1 person out of every million. In north St. Louis County within a population of 120,000 people, there are over 50 cases. The St. Louis County Board of Elections is directly above a landfill. Nine former employees have died of cancer in 10 years.

Additionally, there are women who have had multiple miscarriages or are altogether unable to have children. Hundreds of people have had multiple cancers, some who have had breast cancer multiple times. The stories of St. Louis residents that have lost their entire livelihoods through no fault of their own is overwhelmingly tragic.

St. Louis has a severe healthcare crisis that has existed for a very long time.  And, there are many who chose to stay silent anyway.

In the Missouri Legislature, there are pending attempts to undermine the work of Attorney General Chris Koster and the efforts of several private citizens who are trying to raise awareness about the radioactive waste that exists in the entire St. Louis region.

As long as people are getting sick and dying, I will be fighting this terrible legislation and also forcing the federal government to take responsibility for what they allowed to occur in my hometown of St. Louis.