The EPA has a Hazard Ranking System for areas that have been designated so polluted that they require federal funding for their cleanup. Superfund sites are toxic, but Superfund sites on the EPA's National Priorities List are really toxic -- think the Love Canal in New York. Think Blinky.
Three different Superfund sites exist at the Bannister Federal Complex, home to sick workers from the General Service Administration's offices and the Kansas City Plant, which makes non-nuclear parts for nuclear weapons. None of the Bannister sites are currently on the National Priorities List. Now, because of an April 15 request sent by the Sierra Club and the Kansas City chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility, the EPA's Region 7 will "conduct a full and complete reinvestigation and reassessment of the entire Bannister Federal Complex," according to a press release issued today by David Bryan of the EPA.
"Jubilant. Excited." That's how Ann Suellentrop of Physicians for Social Responsibility says she feels in light of the announcement.
"It shows that they're on the defense" -- no pun intended -- "because
the truth is coming out, little by little, and they can't run, they
can't hide," Suellentrop says. By "they," she means all of the KC
Plant's former and current contracted operators, including Honeywell, Bendix and
AlliedSignal, as well as the National Nuclear Security Administration and U.S. Department of Defense. "If they're going to build a new plant, they're going to have
to have a big pot of money ready to pay all the people who are gonna
get cancer from it, and they will need to monitor it every month."
Karl Brooks, EPA Region 7's administrator, said in the press release, "We have been working with the General Services Administration since February on an initial characterization of environmental elements at the site, and we are nearing completion of an environmental work agreement for us to oversee a complete assessment of GSA-managed property looking forward to repurposing the site."
Suellentrop is eager to hear what will come to light as a result of the EPA's investigation. "There's nothing that can be done for those who have already been damaged, who have lost loved ones," she says. "It's a catastrophe. It's a disaster. But they need to come out and
tell the truth, because they know what they did."
(Home page image via Flickr: John-Morgan)
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