ST. LOUIS — While activists work to help citizens exposed to radioactive waste that was left over from the Manhattan Project and contaminated the St. Louis area, the federal government has decided to remove provisions for compensation for victims.
Karen Nickel, co-founder of Just Moms STL, said any financial compensation would be better than nothing, but it is too little too late for those who have already passed due to exposure.
"It’s time for the government to take responsibility for its carelessness and recklessness," Nickel said to The St. Louis Record. "They need to be held accountable. There also needs to be expedited cleanups at the sites."
Nickel said citizens deserve financial compensation and assistance for their injuries.
"We didn’t do anything wrong," Nickel said. "This is not our fault. We also deserve an apology. There shouldn’t be a price tag on our health and our lives when it comes to something our own government did to us."
Nickel said the contamination throughout St. Louis County and St. Charles is widespread.
"There are several radioactive sites that have ongoing cleanup plans in place but the work moves at a snail's pace," Nickel said. "The Army Corps of Engineers, which is the agency that oversees the cleanup of Coldwater Creek, has said it will take until the year 2038 before they will be finished."
Nickel said at that point, this radioactive material will have been in the community for almost 100 years.
"The Army Corps of Engineers has not even touched any cleanup in the creek besides Jana Elementry —which started this past summer — since 2005," she said. "Nothing has been done to help those that have been exposed. People continue to get sick and die, and we get no financial support or receive any compensation for the sacrifice we make for ultimately being leftover victims of World War II."
On Dec. 7, U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) continued his fight for compensation for those exposed to the radioactive waste and called the decision to remove the provisions to help the victims an injustice.
"This is this body turning its back on these good, proud Americans," Hawley said on the Senate floor, the Missouri Independent reported.
The St. Louis region has grappled with the radioactive waste predicament since its crucial role in the Manhattan Project during World War II.
Nearly eight decades later, inhabitants of the area continue to contend with the consequences as post-war, radioactive waste from uranium refinement was transported from downtown St. Louis to various locations in St. Louis County, contaminating the airport and infiltrating Coldwater Creek.
In the 1970s, surplus nuclear waste was illegally dumped at the West Lake Landfill, where it still resides today.
St. Charles County, a hub for uranium processing during the Cold War, housed a site in Weldon Spring with a chemical plant and open ponds of radioactive waste.
Although remediated in the early 2000s, groundwater contamination persists, lagging behind improvement expectations set by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.
Residents have attributed rare cancers, autoimmune diseases and premature deaths to the radioactive waste.
A study by the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry affirmed an elevated cancer risk for individuals residing near Coldwater Creek or engaging in activities involving its waters.