JEFFERSON CITY — Though state health officials have sought data on fish near the contaminated Weldon Spring site in St. Charles County, the Department of Health and Senior Services does not have such data and there are no fish consumption advisories for nearby lakes.
Lisa Cox, spokeswoman for DHSS, said the department formulates its fish consumption advisories — which warn anglers to limit or avoid consumption of fish due to contaminants detected — based on review of data provided by other agencies.
But Cox said the health department doesn’t have current data on the Weldon Spring site or nearby Lakes 34, 35 and 36 in the August A. Busch Memorial Conservation Area, which is adjacent to the Weldon Spring site.
The three lakes and the presence of uranium were mentioned in state and federal government records that were the subject of a recent report by The Missouri Independent on apparent disagreements between regulators about the pace of cleanup at Weldon Spring.
“Though we’ve asked for such data in the past, we do not have fish sampling data for the Weldon Spring site or related lakes that you referenced, so those waterbodies are not part of our fish advisory,” Cox told the Post-Dispatch on Friday.
Cox said the DHSS has asked the Department of Energy, which controls the Weldon Spring site, for current fish tissue data in comments on previous five-year Weldon Spring site reviews at least as far back as 2016.
“DOE has previously told us that they assessed fish contamination risk already, but we have asked for them to update that assessment to account for any changes that have occurred,” Cox said in an email.
She said a July 1995 report “may be the assessment DOE has previously referenced.”
That report says the human health risk associated with eating fish from the three lakes with elevated levels of uranium “is below the EPA’s target range for unacceptable human risk levels.”
“As a result of this assessment, no limits were placed on human consumption of fish from the August A. Busch Memorial Conservation Area,” the report says.
A U.S. Department of Energy spokesman in an email Friday said because monitoring results for surface water at Lakes 34, 35 and 36 have remained below the maximum contaminant level for uranium since the late 1990s, no further testing of fish has been conducted.
State Rep. Tricia Byrnes, R-Wentzville, said she is concerned that federal agencies are “not providing answers to the questions of our state agencies.
“I’m equally concerned that the state agencies haven’t been empowered to compel action or alert the public of these concerns.”
Brynes, Rep. Richard West, R-New Melle, and St. Charles County Councilman Joe Brazil are hosting a town hall meeting on Aug. 2 at the New Melle Community Center, 4700 State Highway Z, to discuss environmental issues related to Weldon Spring.
The Weldon Spring site has been a focus of area nuclear waste activists in the wake of recent reporting on St. Louis’ role in the development of nuclear weapons and the legacy of contamination left behind.
Mallinckrodt moved its uranium processing operations from its St. Louis plant to Weldon Spring, at the former site of a World War II-era TNT and DNT plant, in 1957. By the time it stopped uranium processing there in 1966, the site was heavily contaminated. Surface remediation concluded with completion of a 41-acre, onsite disposal cell in 2001 visible from Highway 94 just west of Francis Howell High School.
The Weldon Spring site is controlled by the Department of Energy, while the August A. Busch Memorial Conservation Area is managed by the Department of Conservation.
Uranium levels at the August A. Busch Memorial Conservation Area are referenced in a 2021 Department of Natural Resources review of a draft five-year report being prepared by the Department of Energy.
“The uranium levels at Busch Lake 34 continue to be higher than the other locations…,” the DNR document says, quoting from the Department of Energy draft.
“Please include a discussion on why the uranium levels are higher in Busch Lake 34 than other locations,” the DNR wrote to the Department of Energy.
In response, the Department of Energy told the DNR that the passage would be revised to: “Busch Lake 34, the relatively highest uranium concentration pond, is immediately downgradient of Burgermeister Spring where much of the groundwater from the Chemical Plant flows.
“Busch Lake 36 and Busch Lake 35 are nearer the site but have lower uranium levels. Dye tracer injected in wells in the northern part of the site were detected at Burgermeister Spring, possibly under-flowing the Busch Lake 36 and Busch Lake 35 drainage,” the Department of Energy said.
The Department of Energy repeats this passage in its final report, published September 2021, and adds additional information.
“The uranium levels at Busch Lake 34 continue to be higher than the other locations; however, uranium levels at the Busch Lake outlets have shown an overall decline since remediation at the Chemical Plant site,” the final report, which is publicly available, says.
Asked about uranium levels referenced at Busch, a spokesman for the Department of Conservation said the agency “relies upon the expertise of the Department of Health and Senior Services for fish consumption advisories.
“MDC is not currently testing fish at the Busch Conservation Area lakes,” Joe Jerek, spokesman for the agency, said this week. “There are currently no fish advisories for the Busch Conservation Area.”
Based on their oversight and involvement at the Weldon Spring site, “we also rely upon the Missouri Department of Natural Resources and the Environmental Protection Agency to inform us if our current stocking or management practices should be amended,” Jerek said.
Mallinckrodt began processing uranium ore in St. Louis in 1942. Parts of St. Louis remain contaminated more than 80 years later.
The new Weldon Spring Interpretive Center that opened in April failed to include the memorial to workers who died of various maladies related to their handling of uranium. Advocates are upset about the decision.