Senators OK home buyouts aimed at St. Louis-area landfills

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Missouri senators have passed a buyout program targeting homes near a St. Louis-area Superfund site.

Senators voted 30-3 on Wednesday to send the measure to the House. It would allow residents to apply for buyouts for homes found uninhabitable because of contamination or within 3 miles of sites with high levels of dissolved radium in groundwater.

The measure is aimed at homes near Bridgeton Landfill and adjacent West Lake Landfill, where Cold War-era nuclear waste was buried in the 1970s.

The Environmental Protection Agency previously has said that despite radioactive waste and an underground fire at Bridgeton Landfill, there’s no increased risk for neighboring residents. The agency also hasn’t found evidence radioactive material has migrated beyond the landfill.

Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal’s bill would set a $12.5 million cap on buyouts.