ST. LOUIS–Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo. and Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo. are calling on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) to test all the Hazelwood School District’s properties for possible radioactive contamination. 

What You Need To Know

  • Sen. Josh Hawley and Rep. Cori Bush sent letter U.S. Army Corps of Engineers urging it to test all Hazelwood School District buildings for radioactive waste

  • The school board approved a request to ask the Army Corps for a test of all the district's buildings in December

  • The Army Corps tells Spectrum News it received a request and is working to set up a meeting with school officials

  •  The letter says “students and parents have had their lives upended while waiting for answers and help from the federal government”

The request comes following conflicting test reports about World War II-era Manhattan Project radioactive contamination at one of the district’s school buildings.

Hawley and Bush sent a letter to Lt. Gen. Scott Spellmon with the USACE asking that testing begin as soon as possible.

The lawmakers also wrote “students and parents have had their lives upended while waiting for answers and help from the federal government.”

In December, the Hazelwood School Board approved a request to ask the federal government for a fresh round of testing to cover all district properties.

The request came after three rounds of tests of Jana Elementary. One by the USACE and one by the school district conducted in the fall found no concerns of radioactive waste. The Boston Chemical Data Corporation authored a report from August finding significant radioactive contamination.

Spectrum News has learned the Army Corps received an email from the Hazelwood School District on Jan. 3 and has requested a meeting with the school board’s president and district’s superintendent to discuss the request.

The letter says the USACE must prioritize the district’s request to ensure the safety of the school’s properties, mentioning that the health and wellbeing of the students must be the top priority.

“Concerned parents deserve certainty about the safety of their children’s learning environment and on that, USACE can and should help,” the letter states.

The school has been closed since the Boston Chemical report was released. Students have been reassigned to other schools in the district. 

The lawmakers also ask that the district be reimbursed for testing already conducted at its expense.

Spectrum News reached out to the Hazelwood School District which said it had nothing new to add.

Radioactive Waste in St. Louis

Jana Elementary sits right next to Coldwater Creek. The creek was contaminated in the 1940s and 1950s when waste from atomic bomb material manufactured in St. Louis got into the waterway near Lambert Airport, where the waste was stored. 

For decades, children who lived near the creek hunted for crawdads and splashed in the water on hot summer days, unaware of the poison they were playing in.

A 2019 federal report determined that those exposed to Coldwater Creek from the 1960s to the 1990s may have an increased risk of bone cancer, lung cancer and leukemia. Environmentalists and area residents have cited several instances of extremely rare cancers that have sickened and killed people.

The Environmental Protection Agency established a Superfund site in 1989, and the government is spending millions to clean up the mess, though the project isn’t expected to end until 2038.