FREDERICKTOWN, Mo. (News First) – The Environmental Protection Agency continues to release information on its website concerning the fire at the lithium battery recycling plant in Fredericktown. They continue to detect hydrogen fluoride and elevated particulate matter with a diameter of 10 micrometers or less, also called PM2.5. The E.P.A. says these detections are all below action levels and are typically associated with flare-ups during the continued hotspot suppression activities at the Critical Mineral Recovery facility.
The E.P.A. says Fredericktown’s public drinking water supply is pulled from the City Lake which is located northwest of the facility fire and smoke plumes. Responding agencies don’t believe the drinking water supply to be impacted by runoff but the Missouri Department of Natural Resources and contractors hired by the Critical Mineral Recovery facility are working to collect water samples to confirm. The E.P.A. says the facility has also hired a contractor to provide alternate drinking water for livestock that is located near the facility.
And was there a fishkill? The E.P.A. says yes, there was a fishkill that starts from where an unnamed tributary and Village Creek meet and continues two miles downstream to the Little St. Francis River. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Missouri D.N.R. are working to coordinate and investigate the fishkill further.
