ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Missouri) and advocacy groups are rallying Wednesday to push the federal government to cover the costs of nuclear contamination.
Radiation from bomb-making materials was dumped in the north St. Louis County area during World War II, and the effects are still being felt today.
U.S. Sens. Hawley, Ben Ray Luján (D-New Mexico) and Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) are rallying Wednesday with residents who’ve been impacted by nuclear contamination.
Advocates from St. Louis County-based groups like Just Moms STL will be in attendance as well.
The rally is outside the U.S. Capitol at 12:30 on Wednesday afternoon.
Hawley wants to expand the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act to include federal compensation for impacted St. Louisans.
If the act becomes law, anyone who's lived in an affected area for at least two consecutive years since Jan. 1, 1949, and has developed a medical complication indicated on the act’s pre-approved list, could have their medical expenses paid. Recipients could instead elect to receive a one-time payment of $50,000.
If the affected family member has died, a spouse or child could make a claim on their behalf.
Hawley spoke to 5 on Your Side ahead of Wednesday's rally. He said, "My hope is there will be people from around the country-- St. Louis and the greater St. Louis region, St. Charles, as well, (and) also folks from out west who have been subjected to similar government experiments and radioactive waste. I think we've got a broad coalition of people who are just trying to hold the government accountable. These are working people who deserve basic justice and fairness."
For the past eight months, crews have excavated hundreds of truckloads of contaminated soil from the banks of Coldwater Creek near the campus of Jana Elementary School and beyond.
5 on Your Side checked in with the Army Corps of Engineers to get an update on the cleanup progress.
One of the program managers, Phil Moser with the St. Louis District of the Army Corps of Engineers, said there were no radiation levels that posed an immediate threat to the public.
A crew of over 100 workers has removed more than 365 truckloads of contaminated soil from the area near Jana Elementary. Moser said the work in that area is expected to conclude this fall. Contamination removal projects across other parts of north St. Louis County have an expected end date of 2036 and a turnover date of 2038.
When we asked Moser how the Army Corps of Engineers determined the overall project end date, he said work takes time, and there’s constant testing of areas before and after excavation to ensure it’s done properly.
“… It's the extensive coordination that we have to do amongst the all of the project team, from construction and engineering all the way to the transportation and disposal," he said. "So, there are site limitations that we have to deal with (like) the shipping of contaminated material to the landfills, as well as the amount of work that we’ve got going on in one specific location. So there's a lot going on with that. And that's why the date is what it is."
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