nuclear-news

Lois Gibbs, who exposed Love Canal pollution scandal, speaks out on nuclear wastes

Nobel Prize nominee in STL, talks nuclear waste Grant Bissell, KSDK7:40 p.m. CDT October 4, 2014 ST. LOUIS – A Nobel Peace Prize nominee was in St. Louis Saturday to talk about nuclear waste that’s contaminated parts of our area.

Lois Gibbs is known for her extensive activism at Love Canal, a nuclear waste site in New York. On Saturday, she spoke at a community meeting in Maryland Heights organizers say was centered on educating people about the radioactive West Lake Landfill and Coldwater Creek.

“Of all of the site’s I’ve visited, and I’ve visited tons of sites across this country in the last 33 years, this is by far the worst,” Gibbs said of West Lake.

The landfill is owned by Republic Services and contains World War II-era nuclear waste. It’s adjacent to the Bridgeton Landfill, which has had an underground smoldering event for years.

“How do they expect families to live with that kind of terrible fact?” Gibbs said.

The activist is helping amplify the calls to remove the waste from West Lake.

“We’ve got to make the people in this community safe. That should be Republic’s number one goal right now,” said Chuck Stiles, the assistant director of the Teamsters Solid Waste Division.

Many of the people at the meeting either live near the West Lake Landfill or Coldwater Creek. The waterway streams through parts of north St. Louis County and was contaminated by the same waste as West Lake. Hundreds of people who grew up near the creek have developed illnesses they believe are related to exposure to the waste………

A coalition called Just Moms STL has started petitions to the St. Louis Board of Aldermen and the St. Louis County Council to have the waste removed from the West Lake Landfill. http://www.ksdk.com/story/news/local/2014/10/04/nobel-prize-nominee-in-stl-talks-nuclear-waste/16738195/

October 6, 2014 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | USA, wastes