WASHINGTON 鈥 Efforts to provide financial compensation to 最新杏吧原创-area residents exposed to nuclear radiation cleared a major legislative hurdle on Thursday.
In a vote that was described by Just Moms STL Co-Founder Dawn Chapman as 鈥渘othing short of a miracle,鈥 the U.S. Senate voted 61-37 in favor of expanding an existing federally funded nuclear radiation exposure survivor program to include residents of 最新杏吧原创, 最新杏吧原创 County and St. Charles County. The proposal was introduced by U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, a Republican from Missouri.
鈥淲e鈥檝e taken a big first step, but it is only a first step,鈥 Hawley said to reporters following the vote.
The measure, which also has the backing of Missouri鈥檚 other U.S. senator, Republican Eric Schmitt, now heads to a conference committee that will include members of both chambers of Congress.
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Local activists, including Chapman and fellow Just Moms co-founder Karen Nickel, have long called for expansion of the relief program. Officials previously estimated that as many 80,000 people have been sickened from exposure to radioactive or other harmful materials related to the 最新杏吧原创 region鈥檚 role as a production center for the war effort in the 1940s.
鈥淚t becomes awfully hard to vote no when you learn that it was the federal government that caused this. It was not an act of nature, or an accident, but the federal government鈥檚 negligence that has caused this all,鈥 Hawley said.
Hawley said he hopes to inform members of the conference committee, once they are selected, on how widespread of an impact the nuclear testing had in Missouri and in other states.
U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luj谩n, a Democrat from New Mexico, also spoke in favor of the proposal Thursday before the vote.
鈥淣ot enough people have focused on the collateral damage caused by our nation鈥檚 nuclear weapons testing programs,鈥 Luj谩n said in a speech on the Senate floor, noting the impact of nuclear weapons testing in New Mexico and other states.
In his remarks to reporters, Hawley said the program, if eventually signed into law by President Joe Biden, would likely be administered by the Missouri Attorney General鈥檚 office and could be ready within 鈥渨eeks or months鈥 of the National Defense Authorization Act鈥檚 passage. Among the items included in the defense bill is the program鈥檚 expansion and a proposal to extend a benefits program for survivors of 9/11.
Residents of areas that are eligible for reimbursement would be able to apply for it if their medical condition has been directly linked to nuclear radiation exposure. Residents could also opt to receive a one-time, $50,000 payment from the federal government or to file survivor鈥檚 benefits if their next of kin鈥檚 death was caused by radiation exposure.
According to the amendment, claimants would have to document that they were 鈥減hysically present in an affected area鈥澛犫 defined by 20 ZIP code areas聽鈥 for at least two years after Jan. 1, 1949.
In addition, they would have to provide evidence of a 鈥渟pecified disease,鈥 including certain kinds of cancer, leukemia, multiple sclerosis, and lymphoma. (The diseases are spelled out in the amendment.)
Affected ZIP code areas, which cover most of north 最新杏吧原创 County, the north riverfront area of 最新杏吧原创 and a large swath of St. Charles County anchored by Weldon Spring, are 63031, 63033, 63034, 63042, 63045, 63074, 63114, 63135, 63138, 63044, 63140, 63145, 63147, 63102, 63304, 63134, 63043, 63341, 63368 and 63367.
While the measure moves forward, efforts to force the U.S. Senate鈥檚 Energy Committee to hold hearings on the contamination and for President Biden, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, and other federal officials to tour contaminated sites in 最新杏吧原创 and St. Charles counties have not progressed.
鈥淲e鈥檝e heard nothing from them, which is absolutely sickening after what this region has been through and what these folks have been through,鈥 Hawley said.
Hawley has also called for the release of documents related to testing at various sites in the region and for soil testing to be conducted at every school in the region after reports of uranium contamination at the now-shuttered Jana Elementary School in Florissant.
鈥淚 believe that the cleanup of these sites is absolutely vital 鈥 and that needs to go forward,鈥 Hawley said. 鈥淎nd it needs to forward on a lot faster timeline and a lot more thoroughly than what the government is pursuing it now.鈥
Editor鈥檚 note: This report was updated on Saturday, July 29, to include details about the proposed compensation plan.聽
