The Spark

the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist

“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx

Superfund Super Mess

Nov 12, 2018

It has been 70 years since the Manhattan Project ended, in 1947, leaving behind radioactive waste and toxic gases from the building of the atom bomb. This year the EPA finally decided on a proposal to remove some of the radioactive waste left behind in Bridgeton, Missouri.

Many in the area, a suburb of St. Louis, didn’t know they were living near a superfund waste site. What they knew about was bad smells and a never-ending fire.

While the Trump administration proposes to cut the EPA staff that oversees Superfund clean-ups, it is almost 30 years since the waste dump was designated a superfund site. That means both Democratic and Republican administrations have left these sites to rot, to threaten residents nearby.

How many other superfund sites around the country are also waiting for experts and funding to clean them up? And if the radioactive waste is removed from Missouri, where is it going, where it is safe for people in other states?

The U.S. government created the mess. Following the planning and building of nuclear bombs, it sold the land to private companies, and now the responsibility belongs to nobody.

This capitalist system leaves health problems and cancer up to individuals to cope with.