Document BJGQJRN7YjYy6GrvqxLz2Bzo

ST. LOUIS PQST-DISROT Copyright 1994 WEDNESDAY, JUNE 15. 1994 (5) 'vi-^tXvw 5-STAR . .. EPA Targets Metro East Toxic-Waste Sites `We're Going To Do This Sooner And Better' Than Before, Federal Official Vows By Margaret Gillerman Of the Post-0ispatch Staff The federal government has targeted East St. Louis and other Metro East communities along the Mississippi River for high-level and high-priority help in cleaning up toxic-waste sites and a host of other environmental messes. "We want to deal with all the environmen tal issues in this area as a high-priority mat ter," said David Ullrich, a federal EPA offi cial. He was in East St. Louis on Tuesday for a meeting to plot strategy and hear from residents. "We're going to do this sooner and better and more efficiently" than in the past, he said. The new effort -- called the Mississippi River Gateway Initiative -- involves a coali tion of more than a dozen federal and state agencies. Over the last few months, U.S. EPA staff members from Washington and Chicago have been talking to Metro East residents about what environmental troubles worry them most. Ullrich described the target area, which stretches from Alton to Cahokia. as "an area where we feel there's a great need" for extra assistance. It is an area that is riddled with waste from failed factories and by unchecked development in the flood plains. The problems the group hopes to remedy include major toxic-waste sites, environmental woes caused by lead-based paint, crumbling sewer systems, open burning by refineries, infestations by rodents and stinking, illegally dumped garbage. This is "an effort to focus all our collective resources on the area." said Ullrich, who is deputy director of EPA's Region 5, based in Chicago. The program also may address some environmental problems in St. Louis and St. Louis County, looking especially at lead poisoning there, officials said. On Tuesday, Ullrich led a meeting of about 20 senior managers of feder al and state agencies at State Com munity College in East St. Louis. They represented more than a dozen offices including the Iliinois and Miss ouri health departments, the federal Housing and Urban Development and the Iliinois attorney general. The initiative comes amid a grow ing cry in the country of "environ mental racism." which refers to alle gations of neglect by federal agencies in cleaning up neijghborhoods of poor, black and Hispanic people in favor of wealthier, white suburban communities. At Tuesday's meeting, the Rev. Buck Jones, a community activist, asked the officials why East St. Louis, a virtually all-black community, had 22 sites identified as possible hazard ous sites and yet none was on the National Priority List for cleanup. Jones is executive director of Project HOPE (Helping Other People Emerge;. Jones said that residents in one East St. Louis neighborhood near a neglected toxic-waste site had an aiamung cancer rate. "You asked us to talk about envi ronmental injustice," said Kathy Andria, an environmental activist from Granite City, who said she lived be tween two toxic-dump sites. In Gran ite City, "the air is polluted, the ground water is contaminated, the city government is hungry for any industry," she said. While she was growing up, she said, "The local steel mills regularly dumped anything and everything into our yards.... We were white, but we were poor." Venessa Marion, administrator of the Operation New Spirit Neighbor hood Office in East St. Louis, talked about environmental issues beyond the typical scope of the EPA: aban doned housing. "There's one cry that echoes con sistently: Clean up." Marion said. Louis Tiemann. a retired banker in Belleville and president of the East St. Louis Community Fund, said East St. Louis needed jobs more than anything. "The jobs are not going to be there until this city gets cleaned up," Tie mann said. The Gateway Initiative group plans to develop a plan of action based on residents' concerns. East St. Louis Mayor Gordon Bush was optimistic. "I'm very encouraged" by the high-level officials at the meeting, he said. "These are people who can make things happen." DSW 136UUV STLCOPCB4036028 Plant is tops for toxics By David Gosnell Belleville News-Democrat SAUGET -- The American Bottoms Regional Wastewater Treat ment Plant in Sauget, one of the smallest towns in Illinois, in 1992 treated the most chemical waste of any public sewage treatment plant in the nation. That's because Monsanto's W.G. Krummrich Plant sent most of its chemical waste through the plant. Monsanto's plant discharged more chemicals -- about 33.7 million pounds in 1992 -- into a public sewer plant than any industry in the nation, according to a report done by the U.S and Missouri Public Interest Research Project groups. The report looked at federal toxic waste inventory reports for 1992, the last year figures have been compiled and released on indus trial toxic emissions. Susan May of the Missouri public interest group said she found it hard to believe that the American Bottoms plant is capable of actually processing that much industrial waste. Keith Miller, the plant superin tendent for environmental safety and health, said every pound of chemical waste emitted was neutralized by the American Bottoms plant. The processed waste is discharged into the Mississippi River and the public interest groups are critical of what May calls "a loophole" in the nation's clean water laws that allows such a high volume of industrial waste to be dumped in the river. "That's a tremendous amount of dumping," May said. "They are going through the surface treatment plant and getting away with it," she said. American Bottoms' plant manager, George Schillinger, did not disagree that his plant treats more waste than any other treatment plant in the nation because of Monsanto and several other industries in Sauget. But, he said the information about the sewer plant is misleading. Schillinger said Monsanto's Krum mrich Plant is one of the few in the nation that has the bulk of its chemical waste treated outside the manufac turing plant. By being treated outside the plant, it then must be reported to the U.S. Envi ronmental Protection Agency. If all of it were treated inside Monsanto's plant, then it would not be reported, he said. "It's a unique situation in Sauget," Schillinger said. "Industries contract with the Sauget plant to do that for them." He called the report "a gross misrep resentation of the data." About 30.1 million of the 33.7 million pounds the American Bottoms plant processes for Monsanto is sulfuric and hydrochloric acids, according to the report. . The rest are a variety of chemicals, | some of which are toxic heavy metals, ' which are specially treated and ' removed before being mixed with other waste and eventually discharged into the river. Schillinger said all of the acid is neutralized with lime and turned into calcium chloride, which he described as "the same thing you put on your driveway for ice." The report, compiled by Carolyn Hartmann and Mary Wells of the U.S. Public Interest Research Group in Washington, was released Thursday. It listed what it called "major sources of toxic water pollution." Illinois was listed first among the states in the amount of chemicals discharged into treatment systems and fourth in the amount discharged into lakes and streams. . Miller said none of the local discharges represent any danger to the public. ` `The river never sees it," he said of the chemicals treated at the American Bottoms plant. Schillinger said American Bottoms has won national awards for its waste treatment. DSW 136060 STLCOPCB4036029 01-03-95 09:19AM FROM MONSANTO CHEM CORP I P02 UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AQENCY REGION 5 77 WEST JACKSON BOULEVARD CHICAGO, IL 60604-3580 DEC 211994 REPLY TO TfjE ATTENTION OF: R-19J Mr. Keith Miller General Superintendent Monsanto Corporation 500 Monsanto Avenue Sauget, Illinois 62206 Dear Mr. Miller: Thank you for inviting me and key members of my staff to meet with you and other representatives of Monsanto corporation after the Mississippi River Gateway industry meeting cn December 13. We appreciated the opportunity to openly discuss with yen hew the agency and industry can build an effective partnership toward our mutual goal of environmental protection in the greater St. Louie/East St. Louis area. Your presentation cn the Krurmtrlch Plant's operations and progress toward emission reductions was very encouraging as well as informative. I also appreciated hearing your specific suggestions an what we at the agency pan do to foster more cooperative relationships with your company and others ip the Gateway area. Again, it was a pleasure meeting you. We value your support of the local ocxnnunity and of the Mississippi River Gateway Initiative. In follow up to your request at the Industry meeting, Ms. Linda L. Hamsing will soon be providing you with more information on specifice of the initiative. If you have any further questions about car suggestions for the initiative, please contact Ms. Hamsing at (312) 886-0981. Deputy Regional Adninistrator XC1 FoR-b Fevc*/N. Cc'.FAV e/n DSW 136061 Printed on Recycled Paper STLCOPCB4036030