ST. LOUIS — A federal agency is examining the soil beneath homes in a small St. Louis suburb to determine whether residents are living on top of Cold War-era nuclear contamination. But activists say testing needs to be much more widespread.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is taking soil samples at six properties in Florissant, Missouri, near Coldwater Creek, a winding waterway polluted after nuclear waste was dumped there in the 1960s. The decision was made to look under the homes after contamination was found in the backyards of the homes, but not in the front yards, Jeremy Idleman of the department’s St. Louis office said Tuesday.
Preliminary results could be available by the end of the week, Idleman said. If contamination is found under the homes, they will be remediated. But Idleman declined to speculate on what that would entail or whether the homes would have to be demolished.
Department officials do not believe other homes in the area need testing, Idleman said. Activists with Just Moms STL, a group that has spent decades advocating for people living near nuclear waste sites in the St. Louis area, disagree.
“There are so many houses on the banks of this creek for miles,” Karen Nickel, co-founder of Just Moms STL, said Tuesday. “What about the rest of those houses? I don’t think we can say we trust the Army Corps anymore.”
A press release from the Corps of Engineers stated that when the Cades Cove subdivision was built, part of the creek was covered with fill dirt. The department said current testing will determine whether that fill dirt is contaminated. The houses were built more than 30 years ago.
“We have invested heavily in ensuring the safety and well-being of residents,” said Phil Moser, St. Louis District program manager for the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program, in the news release. “Every step we take is based on rigorous research, accurate data and evidence-based remediation decisions.”
Uranium processing in the St. Louis area played a crucial role in developing the nuclear weapons that helped end World War II and provided a key defense during the Cold War. But eighty years later, the region still faces pollution in several locations.
Nuclear waste stored near Lambert Airport ended up in Coldwater Creek in the 1960s. Many people in that area believe the contamination is responsible for cancer and other diseases, although experts say it is difficult to link radiation exposure to disease.
In 2022, an elementary school in Florissant was closed due to concerns that contamination from the creek would get onto the playground and into the building.
In July, an investigation published by The Associated Press, The Missouri Independent and MuckRock found that the federal government and companies responsible for nuclear bomb production and nuclear waste storage sites in the St. Louis area were aware of health risks, leaks and improperly stored contaminants. and other problems, but often ignored them.
Sen. Josh Hawley, a Republican from Missouri, and U.S. Rep. Cori Bush, a Democrat from St. Louis, have pushed for compensation for people whose illnesses are linked to radiation exposure. The Senate is expected to vote on the compensation plan this week.
Hawley said in a letter to Corps of Engineers leaders Tuesday that homes along the creek should have been tested years ago.
“Residents are rightly horrified by the possibility that their homes may have been built on top of radioactive waste — waste that should never have been there in the first place,” Hawley wrote, noting that the Corps assumed jurisdiction over the Coldwater Creek area in 1997. did it take you this long to disclose this risk?
Dawn Chapman, who co-founded Just Moms STL with Nickel, will be Hawley’s guest at President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address on Thursday.
