NEW MELLE 鈥 Missouri officials and town hall attendees called on the U.S. Department of Energy to review the impact of radioactive contamination on Francis Howell High School alumni and St. Charles County water on Wednesday night.
鈥淚 feel 鈥 as a St. Charles County resident 鈥 I don鈥檛 trust the water here,鈥 said state Rep. Tricia Byrnes, R-Wentzville, calling on the Department of Energy to open a water treatment plant in the county.
Byrnes moderated the town hall meeting in which local and state officials urged Congress to pass a measure that would expand an existing nuclear radiation exposure survivor compensation program to include 最新杏吧原创-area residents. The U.S. Senate voted 61-37 in favor of the proposal sponsored by Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., on July 27.
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State Rep. Tricia Byrnes, R-Wentzville, becomes emotional while speaking Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2023, at the New Melle Sports and Recreation in St. Charles County. Members of the community gathered to discuss radioactive contamination issues in Weldon Spring.
Hundreds attended the town hall at a recreational space in New Melle. Thomas Whelan Jr., who taught at Francis Howell High School, said the Department of Energy needs to look into the effects of radioactive contamination on students and alumni of the school, which sits near the Weldon Spring site. Football players, he said, were breathing in radioactive dust at practices, and federal officials need to take accountability for that.
鈥淎t least simply admit that it is an issue,鈥 Whelan said. 鈥淭hey haven鈥檛 even done that yet.鈥
Records included in a recent report by mentioned that three lakes in the August A. Busch Memorial Conservation Area have elevated levels of uranium. And on July 22, the Post-Dispatch reported that the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services doesn鈥檛 have data on fish in the area and hasn鈥檛 issued consumption advisories.
The Busch conservation area is adjacent to the Weldon Spring site where Mallinckrodt moved its uranium processing operations in 1957. By the time the site stopped processing uranium in 1966, the site was heavily contaminated. Surface remediation concluded in 2001 with completion of an onsite disposal cell.
Byrnes said the Environmental Protection Agency told her the Weldon Spring site doesn鈥檛 pose a threat to residents. An attendee said his wife died at 42 after developing a tumor after fishing at the area鈥檚 lakes with her family for years.
St. Charles County Circuit Court Judge Deborah Alessi said she has stage four lung cancer that has spread to her brain. She never smoked, she said, but grew up near Coldwater Creek in 最新杏吧原创 County.
鈥淚 live in two-month increments, and I鈥檇 love to see something done about this,鈥 Alessi said.
贬补飞濒别测鈥檚 amendment would require claimants to provide evidence of a disease it spells out, which includes certain types of cancer and multiple sclerosis. It also would require them to document that they were present for at least two years after Jan. 1, 1949, in an area that includes 20 ZIP code areas that cover most of north 最新杏吧原创 County, the north Mississippi riverfront area of 最新杏吧原创 and a large swath of St. Charles County anchored by Weldon Spring.
Byrnes praised 贬补飞濒别测鈥檚 proposal. She said it鈥檚 too difficult for area residents to access compensation.
鈥淲hy are you trying to make a mom prove that an atomic bomb kills people?鈥 Byrnes said of hurdles to compensation for area residents.
Attendees said they want the area to also include additional ZIP codes in and around Francis Howell and New Melle. 贬补飞濒别测鈥檚 Missouri chief of staff said the senator is still taking feedback, and the amendment can be expanded. In additional to federal action, attendees also called for state and local governments to review contamination.
鈥淭he governor鈥檚 got to have a roundtable,鈥 Byrnes said.
Coldwater Creek's issues with radioactive soil begin with work done near downtown 最新杏吧原创 for the Manhattan Project during World War II. We summarize the concerns about the creek and how radioactive material contaminated it.
