Groups like Just Moms have advocated for radiation warning signs along contaminated creeks and streams – signs similar to these warning residents to stay out of the West Lake Landfill area.
By Don Corrigan
St. Louis has been dubbed “Atomic City” by environmental organizations across the country. And, in 2024, the St. Louis region once again got the short end of a poisonous radioactive stick due to its U.S. atomic legacy.
The nation’s atomic bomb builders have used portions of St. Louis City and County, as well as St. Charles County, as guinea pigs and as sacrificial lambs, for nuclear weapons programs dating back to World War II.
As Environmental Echo has previously reported, there has been plenty of political posturing, plenty of statements from government agencies, and plenty of nothing getting done. It’s been going on for decades with the radioactive contamination left here from America’s atomic bomb program.
In 2024, there has been plenty of talk about more testing for radioactive contamination at new land sites, more talk about testing groundwater for contamination, more talk about testing backyards and physical structures.
In 2024, there also has been plenty of talk about posting more “Danger Signs” at creeks and streams. Kids have been playing and hiking along contaminated waterways – without even the “Band Aid” of warning signs – for several generations.
In 2024, there also has been plenty of talk about the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act. RECA has provided compensation for health care in a dozen other states affected by radiation from nuclear tests or by the uranium processing industry.
In 2024, there was a push in Congress to reauthorize RECA, which was expiring, and also to extend it to Missouri. That’s because the St. Louis region suffered contamination from its role in the Manhattan Project to develop the atomic bomb.
The north St. Louis area was on track to benefit from RECA with strong support from U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley and Rep. Cori Bush. Then, Rep. Ann Wagner turned her back on residents by blasting RECA as too costly and as a federal budget buster.
“Shameful for Ann Wagner to turn her back on constituents – after doing nothing on the issue for years,” a frustrated Hawley tweeted. “St. Louis deserves better.”
Missouri Republicans Hawley and Wagner eventually made up, but the damage was done. The compensation law expired. The Senate passed its continuance, but Wagner’s colleague, House Speaker Mike Johnson, let the program die without even meeting with radiation victims in Missouri
Long Overdue Response
Pictured above: Dawn Chapman (Left) and Karen Nickel, co-founders of Just Moms STL.
Founders of Just Moms St. Louis, a watchdog group on the contamination situation, have advocated for increased testing, more warning signs, and federal compensation under RECA. They expressed their dismay and outrage over its demise in 2024 in the U.S. House.
On December 17, Just Moms St. Louis was informed that the RECA provision in the Continuing Resolution (CR) was dropped from the package. The CR was passed at the last minute in a stop-gap federal budget measure to keep the government open.
Dawn Chapman, a co-founder of Just Moms St. Louis, told members in a Facebook presentation about the disappointment in the U.S. government’s failure to take responsibility for the collateral damage caused by its atomic weapons program.
“The good news is that we have even more members in the House supporting us going into 2025,” said Chapman. “But I know it’s very frustrating that advocacy doesn’t produce intended results … and we’re angry.
“Our federal government poisoned all of us and we’re going into another round of holidays now without legislation that we desperately need and deserve,” Chapman said.
Chapman held out hope that more support from other states could make the difference in 2025, although she chided House Speaker Johnson for ignoring their concerns with the passage of the 2024 CR to keep the government open.
“We’re going to be headed right back to D.C. in 2025 and continue what we are doing,” said Chapman. “We’re moving people, but it’s just taking a long time …
“Advocacy doesn’t sleep,” added Chapman. “And, frankly, all the illness and suffering that we have at the hands of our own government doesn’t go away.”
Chapman’s message of hope – that the leukemia and cancer clusters in the vicinity of the radioactive waste dumping will finally be addressed in 2025 – seems to be ill-founded optimism at best. Especially in light of a highly-partisan and divided Congress.
West Lake Landfill is a closed, unlined mixed-waste landfill located in Bridgeton, Missouri. It was featured in the 2015 documentaries The First Secret City, The Safe Side of the Fence and the 2017 HBO documentary Atomic Homefront.
Congressional Republicans want to slash the federal budget in 2025, and not add new expenditures. Their message echoes St. Louis Rep. Wagner’s concerns about the budget with her initial position to oppose RECA in 2024.
Wagner flip-flopped on that position later in 2024 after harsh criticism from Hawley and constituent feedback. It remains to be seen what she will do in 2025. However, many of her vocal colleagues in the House remain opposed to any new expenditures.
In fact, some House conservatives say they want no more programs and want $2.5 trillion in cuts to mandatory spending – the bucket of money that controls things like SNAP nutrition assistance, Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare – in any 2025 budget reconciliation bill.
If conservatives do not get the cuts that they are demanding, they say they’ll blow up the budget process and shut down the government. This would be bad news for Just Moms St. Louis and many others.
Environmental Echo 