Radioactive Waste

An expansion of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act to include 21 Missouri ZIP codes scattered throughout St. Louis, St. Louis County and St. Charles County now awaits President Donald Trump’s signature.

For several years, U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley has pushed to add Missouri ZIP codes to a program known as RECA that provides compensation to people who became sick due to radiation exposure.

The bill allows requests for an investigation to be submitted by individuals or community groups, not just local governments.

After a visit to St. Louis, the new EPA administrator said he was moved by the communities living with radioactive contamination.

The legislation also removes the cap on how much can be spent on an investigation.

Coldwater Creek lies at the heart of one of the worst environmental disasters in U.S. history, a catastrophe that over three generations likely afflicted many thousands of people across the breadth of the St. Louis region.

Missouri U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley brought EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin to the St. Louis region on Monday to hear from residents and tour sites contaminated with Manhattan Project-era radioactive waste.

The landfill is a prioritized superfund site that is overseen by the Environmental Protection Agency. It contains radioactive waste left over from St. Louis’ role in the Manhattan project.

The Missouri Department of Natural Resources asked that the EPA assume oversight of the Bridgeton Landfill, arguing it may contain nuclear waste like the adjacent West Lake Landfill.

Federal officials discovered the contamination was far more widespread than previously known, the EPA announced Friday.