Source: http://www.stltoday.com, May 9,2 017
By: Bryce Gray

Months after a Bridgeton couple filed a lawsuit alleging that household dust and soil from their property contained elevated levels of radioactivity, the plaintiffs’ law firm said Monday that tests of four more homes show similar contamination.

All homes are about a half mile south of the West Lake Landfill, slated for cleanup through the Environmental Protection Agency’s Superfund program. The November lawsuit filed by Michael and Robbin Dailey of Bridgeton’s El Ferrol Court alleged that samples taken from the couple’s home matched the radioactive signature of the waste dumped in the landfill decades ago.

One of the new homes tested is also on El Ferrol Court. The other three are on nearby San Sevilla Court, elsewhere in the Spanish Village neighborhood.

Samples from all four allegedly show the presence of radioactive isotopes such as thorium, radium and lead that exceed naturally occurring levels. The newly tested households are still determining how to proceed — and whether to pursue litigation — after getting the results, said Winston Calvert, a spokesman for Hausfeld, the Washington-based law firm handling the Daileys’ case.

Calvert said that the firm has paid for area residences to get tested after being approached by individuals at community meetings. He said more test results are pending for other homes in both Bridgeton and near Coldwater Creek, regarding separate concerns of radioactive contamination.

“Our investigations of radiation contamination in the Bridgeton area will continue,” said Calvert. “We expect lab reports from other homes in the area soon.”

In December, the EPA conducted testing of its own at two homes in Spanish Village “out of an abundance of caution.” Those test results, originally targeted to be released in March, have still not been published, though the EPA said it is “nearing completion” on a report that will be shared publicly.

“EPA’s review of the preliminary results does not indicate a cause for concern or any need for immediate action in these two homes, and the final report will address how the agency reached its conclusions,” the agency said in a statement.

On Monday, regional EPA officials did not directly address whether the new results reported by Hausfeld would prompt further testing.

“EPA remains committed to evaluating all scientifically valid data regarding the Spanish Village neighborhood,” the agency said.

The agency’s earlier testing efforts attracted some criticism for involving Tetra Tech Inc., a contractor that has also counted Republic Services — the operator of the landfill and one of the entities ultimately responsible for paying for the site’s cleanup — as one of its clients. Critics called Tetra Tech’s role in helping to gather samples a conflict of interest and also expressed concern with a past instance of the company falsifying similar testing in California.

Republic, meanwhile, said the new allegations of radioactive contamination conflict with other, official determinations that the residential areas around the landfill are safe.

“For all we know, that unsigned memo could have been written by a paralegal in a plaintiff law firm,” said Russ Knocke, vice president of communications and public affairs for the company.

“All of the neutral expert evaluations by EPA, CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) and MDHSS (the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services) say the community is safe and there is nothing here that rebuts those findings.”

Legislation in the Missouri Legislature seeks to create a fund that would enable Spanish Village homeowners to secure buyouts for their property. The measure passed the Senate but is currently in a House committee, with just days remaining in session.