Weldon Spring

U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley said concerns about cost killed earlier efforts to renew a program for people exposed to radioactive waste. Hawley hopes a new compromise with a lower mandatory spending price tag will finally break through.

Lawmakers formed a new committee to document the effects of radioactive waste in the St. Louis region and other Missouri sites and to search for policy solutions.

An amendment to the annual defense spending bill fell along party lines in the House Rules Committee. The legislation would have added Missouri ZIP codes to the RECA program.

Lakes and streams in August A. Busch Memorial Conservation Area were contaminated with uranium from refining efforts in Weldon Spring.

The U.S. Energy secretary was in the St. Louis area Tuesday to promote how federal dollars are being used in Missouri for energy efforts like battery plants and the weatherization of homes.

The Department of Energy says it will evaluate alternative ideas to decontaminate the radioactive site and groundwater.

Nuclear contamination in the St. Louis region dates back to the 1940s. Documents show leaders of Mallinckrodt Chemical Works, which processed uranium in St. Louis, knew of the contamination risks in 1949.