environmental impact •

The West Lake landfill contains 40-year-old nuclear waste byproducts from the Manhattan Project weapon tests.

After plans regarding the separation of the West Lake and the Bridgeton landfill from each other have been discussed for over two years, the EPA finally decides to enclose the West Lake nuclear waste landfill. Even if this decision was made on Thursday, the process of installing a barrier over the landfill will take at least a couple of months.

The reason why the West Lake landfill will be enclosed is because the Bridgeton side is constantly burning and smoldering, with a high chance of propagating the fire within its neighbor. This will greatly impact the environment and the Missouri citizens near the location, with further long term effects that might even become irreparable.

The nuclear waste present at the bottom of the landfill dates back to the Manhattan Project back in the 1970s. The company that owns both landfills, Republic Services, claims that the fire has no chance of spreading to the bottom of the West Lake landfill, but environmentalists disagree completely. And no wonder, considering the fact that even if there is a 5% chance that the nuclear waste would catch fire, its impact will be tremendous.

One major problem that this project currently faces is the fact that the EPA is in conflict with the company which oversees the barrier’s construction in regards to legal agreements. Either way, at least, the decision has still been made, signaling environmentalists that the EPA is keeping to its prior promise of dealing with the situation.

Previous attempts to construct a fire barrier between the two were halted after information regarding the extent of nuclear waste contamination was deemed inconclusive, urging for further inquiries on the subject to be made. But with the help of the US Army Corps of Engineers, EPA’s assessments are close to being finished.

Once legal agreements have been decided upon, as well as discerning the exact path of the firebreak barrier, the EPA will release all the required information to the public. The construction’s start and its timeline are still being discussed with the Republic Services, but they will more than likely conclude in 2016.

The concept of constructing cooling loops, which are constantly fueled with water in order to control temperatures, has also been regarded as viable. This even reached a point where the wall could no longer be required, but that plan was allegedly dismissed, with the final iteration consisting of a firebreak wall with added cooling loops.

Although the EPA finally decides to enclose the West Lake nuclear waste landfill, this fact might also mean that the agency considers leaving the waste there, instead of removing it. This might be rather plausible if one would take into account that researchers do not know how much the radioactive waste has spread in the past 40 years. The plan of building an insulating wall will remove the odds of these contaminants catching fire, as well as letting the EPA think about a future waste removal project if the need arises.

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Even if methane is highly flammable, the threat of an explosion is almost 0 because the gas has extensively dissipated into our atmosphere.

Because the methane leak has become one of the worst environmental disasters in the US in recent history, the California’s Porter Ranch gas leak will be investigated by the EPA severely. The leak has been present since October, forcing the evacuation of over 2,000 families, but only in December has the owner of the factory, SoCal Gas, acknowledged that the leak was detected.

Even though the gas leak is from a natural gas well containing methane, thus not posing a threat to human health, its odor has made several residents suffer from nausea, headaches, and severe discomfort. This stems from the gas additive known as mercaptan that is added to the gas’ composition in order to better signify that a leak has occurred.

The location of said leak was found by SoCal Gas at the base of a natural gas well at their Aliso Canyon facility, but repairs will last until the end of February.Although the leak will be eventually fixed, the amount of methane gas released into the atmosphere will have a rather large negative impact on the climate and the environment. This event has also drawn the attention of the famous actor Leonardo DiCaprio, known for his involvement in environmental protection movements.

An additional 3,000 families are currently in the process of relocating from the 30,000 member Porter Ranch community. All of the expenses required for relocation have been fully paid by the SoCal company.

One of the reasons why this leak occurred is the fact that some of the facility’s segments date back to the 1970s. The company was allegedly in the process of upgrading the factory, but this was extensively halted by the leak.

In regards to environmental effects, the methane leak produces air pollutants equal to 4.7 million cars on a day-to-day basis. Given the fact that this leak has been spewing gas for over 3 months until now, a staggering amount of emissions were released into our atmosphere, changing the climate and impacting the environment accordingly.

Besides methane, traces of a known cancer-producing gas have also been released. The gas in question is named benzene, and its levels in the area’s atmosphere are monitored constantly by EPA officials and scientists. Because of this, the community of Porter Ranch currently urges the factory to be completely shut down or, at least, for extensive tests to be made before reopening the facility.

The cost of the repairs are expected to reach $900 million, but this will increase substantially in case the leak will not be repaired by February. Small businesses will suffer from a decrease in income as well while the general public is under the threat of diminishing home values.

Although California’s investment in renewable energy and other environmentally beneficial goals will be negatively impacted, the fact that the California’s Porter Ranch gas leak will be investigated by the EPA will help in maintaining the state’s goals, at least to a certain margin. But the effects on the US climate, not just the state’s, will be significant to say the least, considering the amount of methane and benzene released into our atmosphere. The leak’s long-term impact will start to slowly show only after a few months, in 2016.

Image source:www.pixabay.com

EPA Finally Decides To Enclose The West Lake Nuclear Waste Landfill

California’s Porter Ranch Gas Leak Will Be Investigated By The EPA

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