Environmental Echo

West Lake Landfill

By Don Corrigan

Co-Founder of Just Moms STL Dawn Chapman is expressing anger that there is no clear schedule to clean up radioactive waste in a Bridgeton landfill. She is joined by state lawmakers who are tired of years of the EPA dragging its feet.

The landfill could be releasing radioactive pollution due to an underground fire in the area landfill. Environmental experts fear that if the fire mixes with the contamination, North County residents could face more woes and possible evacuation.

The radioactive waste was generated in St. Louis when weapons-grade uranium was refined for use in the top-secret Manhattan project. St. Louis is increasingly known around the country as “Atomic City” for its problems from careless procedures used in producing the first atomic bomb.

Radioactive byproducts from producing yellow cake for bombs was shipped away from riverfront operations in open trucks. It was simply dumped haphazardly in sites around North St. Louis County.

Just Moms STL launched the campaign for the long overdue cleanup in 2013. In 2019, the EPA agreed to remediate the site after Chapman, Karen Nichol and their group campaigned to protect their community from radiation placed in the landfill nearly 50 years ago.

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In honor of Black History Month, team members at Washington State Park invite the public to join them in celebrating the work of Civilian Conservation Corps Company 1743 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 26. Park team members will be available during this open house event at Thunderbird Lodge to discuss Company 1743’s contribution to the park, display historic photographs and discuss historical record accounts of the company’s time at the park.

Since Black History Month 2022’s theme is “Black Health and Wellness,” interpretive tream members will lead a guided hike on the 1,000 Steps Trail at 1 p.m. to support this initiative. This trail was built by Company 1743, and displays their stonework and highlights the park’s natural resources. The hike is 1.25 miles long over a natural surface.

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All Photos: Joe Sohm photos from his work in early February along the Great River Road near Alton, Illinois, for his compendium of Images of America covering all 50 U.S. States.

By Don Corrigan

Sometimes a photographer points the camera lens on a subject and creates a great profile. Sometimes the camera lens turns 180 degrees and creates a great profile – of the pro behind the camera.

Such has been the case for professional photographer and videographer Joseph Sohm, a 1966 Webster Groves High School graduate, who was inducted onto the school’s prestigious Wall of Fame.

Sohm has been profiled by CBS MarketWatch, PBS NewsHour, Esquire magazine, USA Today, the San Francisco Examiner and more. Sohm has received this “earned media” because of literally hundreds of thousands of images he has produced in a five-decades career.

Photographer and videographer Sohm has had his work appear in National Geographic, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Time Magazine, Newsweek, Sports Illustrated and Vogue.

His images of U.S. Presidents have appeared – everywhere. Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush also have drawn on Sohm’s iconic images to celebrate the American spirit during their White House years.

If you want to talk about U.S. Presidents, Sohm will start with Teddy Roosevelt. That’s because of T.R.’s keen interest in protecting natural landscapes and establishing national parks.

Sohm’s favorite park is Yosemite known for its granite towers, deep valleys and the tranquility of the High Sierra. Yosemite is where T.R. met with the legendary John Muir and was converted to become a conservationist president.

“John Muir outlined to Teddy ‘why’ we need to save our natural heritage,” said Sohm. “Since then, many U.S. Presidents added onto this heritage, including President Clinton, whom I worked for during the 1992 campaign and for his inaugural.

“What makes America unique is our belief in democracy,” said Sohm. “But what also makes us unique is our heritage of creating these national parks. We must preserve this natural heritage and our democracy.”

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