最新杏吧原创

HAZELWOOD 鈥� Wins beget victory laps, and U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley led one Tuesday to celebrate passage of legislation that could help 最新杏吧原创-area residents.

Hawley, a Republican, and a host of other elected officials, many of them Democrats, gathered at St. Cin Park in Hazelwood to mark the passage of a new Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA).

Hawley said it was a special day for those 鈥渨ho have been waiting for decades for the federal government to finally own up to what it had done.鈥�

The RECA expansion bill was part of a sweeping tax and spending bill signed into law on July 4 by President Donald Trump.

Specifically, it grants eligibility to those who may have been affected by Mallinckrodt Chemical Works鈥� processing of uranium ore at its downtown 最新杏吧原创 plant, which was contracted under the Manhattan Project to help develop the atomic bomb.

Some of Mallinckrodt鈥檚 waste was stored at sites near the airport in north 最新杏吧原创 County, where it eventually contaminated areas along the Coldwater Creek watershed; some of that waste was later taken to and buried at West Lake Landfill in Bridgeton.

In Weldon Spring, some people who developed cancers blamed exposure to Mallinckrodt鈥檚 uranium processing there from 1957 to 1966.

While some states were eligible for RECA compensation under a past version of the law, others 鈥� most notably Missouri and New Mexico 鈥� had been excluded.

The new law includes those states, as well as sites in Alaska, Arizona, Idaho, Kentucky, Nevada, Tennessee and Utah. It also offers compensation to workers in uranium mines and processing plants.

For more than two years, Hawley ran point in the Senate for legislation aimed at helping residents affected by contamination.

But after twice shepherding RECA amendments through the Senate, Hawley watched the bills die in the U.S. House.

Hawley said it was those setbacks that spurred him to include this successful RECA bill in the massive spending bill.

鈥淚 wanted to get RECA put on any (bill) that was moving,鈥� Hawley said.

Hawley also took time to recognize, and embrace, former U.S. Rep. Cori Bush, D-最新杏吧原创, who attended the event but did not speak.

He said it was Bush鈥檚 rallying of Democrats in the U.S. House two years ago that kept the RECA bill from getting erased completely by political maneuvering from opponents of the bill.

鈥淪he got Democrats to oppose it, I called some Republicans in the House and we stopped it,鈥� he said.

U.S. Rep. Wesley Bell, D-最新杏吧原创, also joined Tuesday鈥檚 crowd and called the expansion of RECA 鈥渁 defining moment鈥� 鈥� even though he opposed the overall spending bill that included RECA.

鈥淲e鈥檙e all grownups here. You鈥檙e not always going to get everything you want,鈥� Bell said. 鈥淏ut on the things we agree on, we鈥檙e going to work together.鈥�

Bell said he wants to make sure that other areas of 最新杏吧原创, such as the old Pruitt-Igoe housing complex site, eventually get included in the bill.

Ben Phillips of 最新杏吧原创 attended the event on behalf of a group of former Pruitt-Igoe residents pushing for inclusion.

The group argues they should be eligible for compensation because the complex was sprayed with a substance produced by Mallinckrodt but not as part of the Manhattan Project.

Government records show the Army sprayed zinc cadmium sulfide at Pruitt-Igoe, a compound the Army still maintains is nontoxic.

Hawley said that because the new RECA bill is now law, it can be expanded. He said he hopes in the near future that 鈥渙ther communities and other regions鈥� get included in RECA to qualify for compensation.

As for applying for compensation, Hawley said the program will be administered by the U.S. Department of Justice, which is in the process of creating new applications and will soon have them available through its website.

Hawley said his office also will set up a hotline and web page to help constituents navigate the application process.

最新杏吧原创 County Executive Sam Page, who was at Tuesday鈥檚 event and called RECA expansion 鈥渁n important milestone,鈥� said the county would work to make access to property and residency records easier for those applying for aid.

The most emotional moments of Tuesday鈥檚 event were short speeches from those affected by radiation exposure.

One special guest was of Arizona, president of the Navajo Nation. He said the RECA passage could help the approximately 4,000 mine workers who worked in the 1,000 or so mines on Navajo land.

鈥淎nd more than 500 of them still need to be cleaned up,鈥� he added.

After thanking local officials for their help in passing the new RECA, Hawley saved his strongest praise for two founding members of Just Moms STL 鈥� Dawn Chapman and Karen Nickel.

Calling them 鈥渢ireless advocates鈥� for more than 13 years, Hawley said their key to success was basic: 鈥淲hat they did, above all, was they told the truth.鈥�

Noting that she grew up playing in park where the press conference was being held, which is near Coldwater Creek, Nickel called the day 鈥渂ittersweet.鈥�

She said her deepest hope is that passage of the new RECA means 鈥渢hat no other community has to wait this long to be heard.鈥�