Officials call for review of radioactive contamination effects on Francis Howell alumni

Shirlee Sickler, left, speaks while Rebecca Hutchason, right, listens Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2023, at the New Melle Sports and Recreation center in St. Charles County. Members of the community gathered to discuss radioactive contamination issues in St. Charles County. Sickler's husband died from stage four colon cancer, which she attributes to his proximity to the uranium processing site in Weldon Spring when he attended Francis Howell High School. Hutchason lives near Coldwater Creek and brought a sign displaying all of her symptoms.

NEW MELLE — Missouri officials and town hall attendees called on the U.S. Department of Energy to review the impact of radioactive contamination on Francis Howell High School alumni and St. Charles County water on Wednesday night.

“I feel — as a St. Charles County resident — I don’t trust the water here,” said state Rep. Tricia Byrnes, R-Wentzville, calling on the Department of Energy to open a water treatment plant in the county.

Byrnes moderated the town hall meeting in which local and state officials urged Congress to pass a measure that would expand an existing nuclear radiation exposure survivor compensation program to include St. Louis-area residents. The U.S. Senate voted 61-37 in favor of the proposal sponsored by Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., on July 27.

State Rep. Tricia Byrnes, R-Wentzville, becomes emotional while speaking Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2023, at the New Melle Sports and Recreation in St. Charles County. Members of the community gathered to discuss radioactive contamination issues in Weldon Spring.

Hundreds attended the town hall at a recreational space in New Melle. Thomas Whelan Jr., who taught at Francis Howell High School, said the Department of Energy needs to look into the effects of radioactive contamination on students and alumni of the school, which sits near the Weldon Spring site. Football players, he said, were breathing in radioactive dust at practices, and federal officials need to take accountability for that.

“At least simply admit that it is an issue,” Whelan said. “They haven’t even done that yet.”

Records included in a recent report by the Missouri Independent mentioned that three lakes in the August A. Busch Memorial Conservation Area have elevated levels of uranium. And on July 22, the Post-Dispatch reported that the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services doesn’t have data on fish in the area and hasn’t issued consumption advisories.

The Busch conservation area is adjacent to the Weldon Spring site where Mallinckrodt moved its uranium processing operations in 1957. By the time the site stopped processing uranium in 1966, the site was heavily contaminated. Surface remediation concluded in 2001 with completion of an onsite disposal cell.

Byrnes said the Environmental Protection Agency told her the Weldon Spring site doesn’t pose a threat to residents. An attendee said his wife died at 42 after developing a tumor after fishing at the area’s lakes with her family for years.

St. Charles County Circuit Court Judge Deborah Alessi said she has stage four lung cancer that has spread to her brain. She never smoked, she said, but grew up near Coldwater Creek in St. Louis County.

“I live in two-month increments, and I’d love to see something done about this,” Alessi said.

Hawley’s amendment would require claimants to provide evidence of a disease it spells out, which includes certain types of cancer and multiple sclerosis. It also would require them to document that they were present for at least two years after Jan. 1, 1949, in an area that includes 20 ZIP code areas that cover most of north St. Louis County, the north Mississippi riverfront area of St. Louis and a large swath of St. Charles County anchored by Weldon Spring.

Byrnes praised Hawley’s proposal. She said it’s too difficult for area residents to access compensation.

“Why are you trying to make a mom prove that an atomic bomb kills people?” Byrnes said of hurdles to compensation for area residents.

Attendees said they want the area to also include additional ZIP codes in and around Francis Howell and New Melle. Hawley’s Missouri chief of staff said the senator is still taking feedback, and the amendment can be expanded. In additional to federal action, attendees also called for state and local governments to review contamination.

“The governor’s got to have a roundtable,” Byrnes said.

Coldwater Creek's issues with radioactive soil begin with work done near downtown St. Louis for the Manhattan Project during World War II. We summarize the concerns about the creek and how radioactive material contaminated it.

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