ST. LOUIS – Nuclear radiation advocates from St. Louis are heading to Washington, D.C., to meet with federal officials about the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act.
“We’re not lobbyists, we don’t lobby. We go in and educate. We show them all the documents and what’s happened in St. Louis and try to fit a master class in 15-20 minute meetings,” Dawn Chapman, Just Moms STL, said.
Chapman said the focus of this trip is to meet with elected officials from Utah.
“For as much as the government has tried to keep it a secret in St. Louis, it’s no wonder that elected officials in other states have no clue what the role we played in the Manhattan Project is,” Chapman said.
The U.S. Radiation Exposure Compensation Act expired in June. A bill to expand and extend the program passed in the Senate with 69 votes, but the hang-up is in the House. Advocates hope to get the bill brought to the House floor soon for a vote.
“In D.C. this week, this is a critical week for bills to be passed for spending bills,” Chapman said. “So, this is a really good week for us to get RECA either attached to something or on its own and it’s kind of our last opportunity before the election.”
Back in St. Louis, Chapman and Karen Nickel said a new proposed sign along Coldwater Creek is a victory.
“They’re going to let the public know there are radioactive materials here, we are cleaning them up. Stay out of here,” Karen Nickel, Just Moms STL, said.
The community and Attorney General Andrew Bailey pushed back on the Army Corps of Engineers’ original sign. Advocates said the new signs are much clearer.
“The signs do say that there is radioactive material present, the original signs that they wanted to put up that said may be present. So, there is an admission of guilt. They’re admitting that there is radioactive material in that vicinity. So, stay out,” Nickel said.
She said there are 196 places where the public will see the signs placed along the creek. The Army Corps of Engineers is expected to put up the signs in November.
