You could breathe air poisoned with cancer chemical from Sauget incinerator, lawsuit says
The Department of Defense put public health at risk when it authorized an incinerator in Sauget to burn firefighting foam that contains cancer-causing chemicals, a metro east interfaith group claimed in a federal lawsuit filed Thursday.
The area is “profoundly impacted by air pollution,” said Cheryl Sommer, vice president of United Congregations of Metro-East, and burning the cancer-causing chemical PFAS could make the problem worse, the lawsuit asserts.
It’s not clear whether the Veolia North America-Trade Waste Incineration has actually burned the chemicals yet, though the defense department authorized them to do so, Sommer said. A Veolia spokeswoman was not immediately available for comment.
Ingestion of high levels of PFAS (per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances) can cause cancer and birth defects, among other health problems, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Last week, news broke that contamination from Scott Air Force Base may have affected private wells.
The Air Force introduced large quantities of PFAS into the ground and water supplies over the past 50 years through firefighting.
The lawsuit contends that the defense department decided to burn the firefighting foam instead of letting it run off into the ground without conducting an environmental review. California-based environmental nonprofit Earthjustice filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the North District of California on behalf of United Congregations, the Sierra Club and three other community groups concerned about PFAS burning.
A spokesman said the Department of Defense does not comment on pending litigation.
PFAS incineration
Jonathan Kalmuss-Katz, a staff attorney with Earthjustice, said burning the chemicals releases toxins into the air. PFAS chemicals are considered “forever chemicals,” meaning they don’t break down over time or under extreme temperatures like other toxic chemicals do, Kalmuss-Katz said.
Earthjustice filed open records requests for at least eight contracts the defense department took out with incinerator operators to burn the PFAS waste. The incinerators “have a long history of Clean Air Act and (Resource Conservation and Recovery Act) violations, and are located in communities that suffer disproportionate environmental burdens,” the lawsuit states.
The Sauget incinerator was cited for frequent Clean Air Act violations, according to the lawsuit. More than half of the surrounding population is black, and 44% of households earn less than $25,000 each year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
In October, U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth, D-Illinois, asked the Center for Disease Control to investigate potential health concerns connected to the incineration of heavy metals in Sauget. Sommer said she expects the report to be released this spring.
A Veolia spokeswoman told the BND at the time that the company “welcomes” the investigation because the facility’s record is “beyond reproach.”
Cahokia-based United Congregations represents 34 metro east congregations with roughly 27,000 members, and runs an environmental justice campaign aimed at improving air quality.
