NEW MELLE, Mo. — On Wednesday, local elected officials held a town hall meeting in New Melle, Missouri to discuss recently released information about radioactive waste contamination in the Metro area.
State Representative Tricia Byrnes says she recently found out about a lawsuit against the United States Department of Energy connected to an atomic bomb plant in Ohio from the 1990s'.
“They were going to pay out for property damage and stress, they said: ‘We don't think we harmed anyone, but we would feel.' I'm paraphrasing, ‘We'd feel better about it,’ and then they offered health monitoring to make sure that they stay safe,” Byrnes said.
That plant was the sister plant to the one in Weldon Spring.
“But meanwhile, Weldon, 1,000-feet from a high school while we had clean up, they did a PR stunt on our people and that included field trips, that included open houses, that included having scientists help us with our science fairs,” Byrnes said.
Byrnes said some people were learning about radioactive contamination in their community for the first time at the meeting.
A man who lost his wife to spinal cord cancer at 42 spoke about how both of their families went fishing at Busch Wildlife near the Weldon Spring site.
“It is apparent to me that, even as far back as 30 years ago, things were going on behind the backs of American and St. Charles County citizens, and we were assured that the problem was being taken care of or fixed,” the St. Charles County Resident said.
U.S. Senator Josh Hawley was able to get an amendment to a current law passed in the Senate that would provide compensation for people with medical conditions caused by exposure to radioactive waste.
“While it passed the Senate, this is not the final version that will pass. It will be taken up by the House of Representatives in what they call a conference committee. We can make improvements we can make changes to that legislation,” Hawley’s Chief of Staff Sam Saffa said.
If you weren't able to come to the meeting and you have been affected by radioactive waste in the Metro area you can reach out to Senator Josh Hawley's office here and let them know what zip code you live in and the medical condition you have so they can make changes to legislation.