ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — Crews continue to clean up along the 14-mile Coldwater Creek as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers remediates radioactive waste.
Under the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP), the USACE cleans up sites with contamination resulting from the nation’s early atomic energy program.
Colonel Andy Pannier is the 55th Commander of the St. Louis District. Pannier gave reporters a tour Wednesday afternoon of its current sites.
This was hours before its annual open house with the community in Florissant.
Pannier said, "We've gone from $11.5 million in 2014, up to $40.7 million in 2024 and due to increasing funding, we've increased capacity."
That's enabled them to increase capacity and do simultaneous projects like the one at McDonnell Bridge in north St. Louis County.
The project, which will remove waste underneath the now-demolished bridge, began in April and will continue until December.
St. Louis County's Department of Transportation and Public Works (TPW) closed McDonnell Boulevard between Byassee Drive and Eva Avenue in Hazelwood for a $3.4 million bridge replacement project. The road will remain closed between Byassee and Eva through 2025.
Next to this remediation site are the former Ballfields, also called Investigational Area (IA)-09, located on James S. McDonnell Boulevard across from the St. Louis Airport Site (SLAPS).
Right now, the 60-acre site is being restored. Colonel Pannier said 100,000 cubic yards of material was removed. He explained this site is close to the source and is in a low-lying area.
It's one of the projects they'll discuss in their annual meeting Wednesday night. Pannier explained the USACE has quarterly online updates and an in-person meeting once a year.
Former Jana PTA President Ashley Bernaugh hasn't missed a meeting since.
"I've been trying to come to every meeting they've hosted, especially since the closure of Jana Elementary," Bernaugh shared. "I think it's important for the Army Corps to align real people with the samples they are pulling from the creek and radioactive waste."
In 2022, Jana Elementary shut down and it remains shut, after conflicting reports that radioactive contamination made its way onto school property.
Pannier explained the contamination near Jana Elementary was in their queue to remediate but they expedited efforts.
He said, "Because the public expressed as much concern as they did, we said let’s do it now so we went out and did it."
Recently, the USACE removed more than two Olympic-sized pools of radioactive waste along the banks of the creek near the school. Pannier said it was a mix of contaminated material and uncontaminated material.
"The goal is transparency and communication. I'll engage with anybody that wants to engage. I think collectively we're all stronger to move forward and that's what our team is trying to do," Pannier added.
The annual meeting is a snippet of a bigger picture involving this contamination.
Representative Tricia Byrnes is one of many local advocates fighting for change. She held a news conference right before the open house, along with other elected officials and family members impacted by the contamination.
"The biggest message is to make sure that Missourians that are harmed know that Missouri representatives and elected officials are behind them," Byrnes noted.
Byrnes was joined by other elected officials, including Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft and Missouri House Speaker Dean Plocher. But she said the stories of affected families like her own should be front and center and it's not something that can be said in one sentence at a public meeting.
"My own immediate family, 19 of them have had cancer, and only five of those 19 were over the age of 50 at that time," Byrnes said.
Rebecca Hutchason said she herself is struggling with constant illnesses.
"I have over 30 illnesses, from a brain tumor, to lesions on my spleen and liver and kidney. I've lost five children, five pregnancies. I lived at the mouth of the beast," Hutchason said.
Susie Gaffney said both her son and husband have been suffering for years.
"My husband, Jim, lives on blood transfusions, now, he is dying slowly of four different cancers related to being exposed to the creek," Gaffney said.
The families and elected officials at the meeting raised concerns about the signs the USACE wants to put up along Coldwater Creek, saying they don't accurately depict the dangers of what was left behind decades ago.
"I mean, a child's gonna look at that and say, 'We ought to dig here,'" Ashcroft said.
Pannier shared, "We have developed informational signs and we are in coordination with local government."
5 On Your Side asked Pannier why the delay in signage.
He responded by saying there are several factors:
- Where the responsibility lies
- Coordinating with local government
- Urgency
- What the signs should say
Dr. Kristin Denbow said it is long overdue for the government to do more for affected families.
"The government has known and we are asking for the government to step up and make right the damage that has been going on for decades," Denbow said.
Local advocacy group Just Moms STL is in Washington D.C. campaigning for compensation for victims, as well.
A 34-year program called the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, also known as RECA, expired last week. It offered compensation and medical screenings for impacted victims.
Advocates were pushing for the program to be expanded and extended. The ideal goal for the advocates was to include contaminated parts of the St. Louis region.
"It's really important for the government to take responsibility for the waste it left behind. Just because justice is delayed and denied, it does not mean justice isn't overdo," Bernaugh shared.
The next project for USACE is in a neighborhood called the Cades Cove subdivision in Florissant, along Coldwater Creek.
The very first samples adjacent to the Cades Cove subdivision were in 2016 and then some of the yards had sampling events later in 2018.
Since then, FUSRAP have done delineation attempts over the last few years, in which they grab additional samples more in-depth.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers detected radioactive contamination in the backyards of six homes.
5 On Your Side learned one homeowner is not cooperating with the USACE's rights of entry.
Pannier explained there will be remediation in yards but not underneath homes.
The Cades Cove project, from sampling to excavating, can take one year.
Residents with questions or concerns can contact the agency's Citizen Outreach number at 314-260-3905 or email at STLFUSRAP@usace.army.mil.
As far as the rest of the contaminated areas along Coldwater Creek, a rough projection for completion is scheduled for 2035 with a full turnover to the Department of Energy in 2038.