Two members of congress from Missouri, a Republican senator and a House Democrat, want the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to do more testing for radiological contamination at a St. Louis area school.
“We write to urge the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) to conduct additional radioactive contaminant testing of Hazelwood School District’s properties,” Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) said in a Jan. 11 letter to Lieutenant General Scott Spellmon.
The lawmakers also want the USACE to reimburse the Hazelwood School Board for testing it already paid for at Jana Elementary School, according to the letter. The education system stopped using the school in Florissant, Mo., before Thanksgiving and reassigned students to other schools.
“Following the closure of Jana Elementary School, students and parents have had their lives upended while waiting for answers and help from the federal government,” the lawmakers said in the letter.
“[W]e do not currently have the authorities within FUSRAP to facilitate the request, we are actively assessing alternate means of assisting [the school district officials] in meeting their objective,” an Army Corps official said in a Thursday email to ExchangeMonitor. But USACE “will do everything we can to provide them a path toward the peace of mind their students, parents, faculty and staff deserve.”
The elected officials’ letter followed a report by Boston Chemical Data Corp. that said radiological contamination around Jana exceeded Environmental Protection Agency cleanup standards.
Local fears of radiological contamination persist despite a Nov. 9 Army Corps press release that said, from a radiological standpoint, the school is safe. Col. Kevin Golinghorst, USACE St. Louis District commander, said that was based on about 1,000 measures and samples taken around the school building and grounds.
The school is near the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP) cleanup of the Coldwater Creek Superfund site near the St. Louis airport.
For 30 years, until the early 1970s, the federal government processed uranium for nuclear weapons at several sites around St. Louis. Properties along Coldwater Creek were contaminated by runoff from some of these sites.
“Historically, contamination moved down the creek and deposited downstream in the banks and flood plain, especially before the cleanup,” of the St. Louis Airport Site, according to an Army Corps webpage.
The projected overall target date for final cleanup of the North St. Louis County sites is 2038, according to an Army Corps spokesperson.
Bush proposed a bill last May requiring signs along the creek and also calling for a Government Accountability Office report on cleanup.
