Today, I attended a meeting with multiple representatives from the Missouri DNR on the USTs on 31st and Cleveland. They presented the timeline/ history of the site, odor complaints that have been documented, site characterization results, remaing issues at the site, and the current/ future direction of the MDNR. The MDNR is in the process of compiling all the data/ reports they have on the site and will be sending them over to me within the next few weeks. There is a lot of information to unpack from the meeting. I will go into further detail in my next post.

To summarize, the leaking UST is still being addressed. Unfortunately, due to the court’s ruling in favor of Zill in the 2015 lawsuit, the MDNR is put in a sticky position both financially and legally. The MDNR is working on an additional investigation to provide stronger evidence to prove that Zill is the source of contamination and to understand the extent to which this has affected the community.

I have been able to get in contact with the EPA and people from the Brownfield Program. I will schedule a meeting with them soon. Before then, I will be revising all the records I have documented. My main priority right now is to get more information about the redevelopment project. So far, we know that the people in charge got funding to build infrastructure at the site but no one knows what they have done with the money. I have sent follow-up emails to both the Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church and Urban Success Inc. but still have no response. If anyone has any leads to this that would be amazing! Other than that, I think we got a solid timeline for the site. Till then, stay tuned for the next update!