Missouri state senators last week defeated a proposed amendment that would have added assistance for St. Louis residents affected by radioactive waste to a nuclear-weapons expansion bill.
The bill — sponsored by then-state-Sen. Greg Razer (D-Jackson County) — offers sales tax exemptions for construction materials.
The exemptions are meant to lessen the cost of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) expansion of the Kansas City National Security Complex, which produces the non-nuclear components of nuclear weapons. A Honeywell International subsidiary operates the plant.
Razer’s bill faces a final senate vote before it can move to the Missouri House. As of Monday, the legislation was on the senate’s calendar for a third reading, meaning it could be voted on at any time.
State Sen. Nick Schroer (R-St. Charles County) last week attempted to amend the bill to create a tax credit for soil and water testing near parts of suburban St. Louis, where the Army Corps of Engineers is cleaning up radioactive contamination from the Manhattan Project.
Razer wanted to pass the bill as is to speed up the process and add jobs to his community.
Razer said NNSA plans to add 2.5 million square feet of new nuclear facilities and create thousands of new jobs. NNSA plans to spend over $3 billion on Kansas City facilities.
Schroer’s proposed amendment is one of several efforts by lawmakers to bring relief to St. Louis-area residents affected by radioactive waste, including similar federal legislation that senators Josh Hawley pushed and President Joe Biden (D) backed.
As part of the Manhattan Project during World War II, several facilities in north St. Louis County were contaminated by uranium processing and the storage of waste material from those processes. The local Missouri Independent in 2023 reported that current and former residents of these areas suffered from rare cancers.
The Army Corps of Engineers, through its Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP) is responsible for Manhattan Project cleanup in the St. Louis area. The Corps, which began sampling Coldwater Creek for contamination in March, collectively calls the contaminated areas the North St. Louis County Sites.
