Bannister Federal Complex deal - Faster Cleanup, or Just Dodging Superfund Status?



L-R: GSA Regional Administrator Jason Klumb, CAP member and
former plant worker Maurice Copeland, EPA Regional Adminis-
trator Karl Brooks at September 1, 2011 CAP meeting on a
"Proposed Cleanup Approach"

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Bannister Federal Complex deal - Faster Cleanup, or Just Dodging Superfund Status?

The Bannister Federal Complex Community Advisory Panel is a body formed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and General Services Administration (GSA) to provide independent input to the inter-agency Environmental Leadership Council (ELC, aka IELC) for the Bannister Federal Complex" and that "In addition to providing independent input on environmental and redevelopment issues, the Community Advisory Panel (CAP) will also act as a communication conduit and forum for stakeholders within the community surrounding the Bannister Federal Complex."  The CAP has been meeting about every six weeks since last fall.  At the July CAP meeting, nobody could seem to remember what their stated mission was, and the ELC took over the agenda at the September 1 meeting to announce a "proposed cleanup approach" for the Bannister Federal Complex and a Memorandum of Agreementl between the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) and EPA Region 7.

After introductions of CAP members, EPA, MDNR, GSA, and National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) representatives and members of the public, Michael Lythcott, the out-of-town private contractor hired to facilitate the CAP meetings, disposed of some routine business and turned the meeting over to EPA Regional Administrator Karl Brooks, who unveiled a chart with the heading "Proposed Cleanup Approach" and the following bullet points:

• Faster Cleanup
• State-wide Regulatory Approach
• RCRA Cleanup = Superfund Cleanup
• Quicker Re-use Options
• Public Involvement

The proposed approach will put the entire Bannister Federal Complex under a single environmental program, but will avoid ("for now," Brooks said) giving the site EPA National Priority List "Superfund" status.  Brooks claimed that cleanup under the plan, involving The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), will result in cleanup to the same standards as under Superfund status.

Brooks said there would be a meeting with the Kansas City Star immediately after the Thursday CAP meeting and hoped to have an "As I See It" about the plan published in the Star.  We'll wait to see an op-ed, but the Star's news article indicates more skepticism than embrace of the plan.  The article, showing online as "Posted on Thu, Sep. 01, 2011 09:46 PM" ran under the headline Bannister plant avoids Superfund list and quoted Scott Dye of the Sierra Club as saying that NNSA and GSA had rebuffed a cleanup for decades and he believed only a Superfund designation would force it to happen. “It is a sad day in Kansas City,” Dye said. “They are going to be left with a festering pit of pollution.”

Keep an ear to Tell Somebody on 90.1 FM KKFI at 6pm Central Time Tuesdays, and an eye to http://www.tellsomebody.us/ for more on all this.

Government agencies seek site-wide environmental program at Bannister Federal Complex: NNSA/GSA Press Release

Bannister Federal Complex Plan Represents Significant Step Forward in Resolving Environmental Issues: EPA Press Release