ST. LOUIS—The United States Senate on Thursday approved an amendment to a defense authorization bill that includes language that could have medical patients compensated for claims related to Manhattan Project era nuclear waste. 

What You Need To Know

  • The U.S. Senate approved an amendment including language that could have medical patients compensated for claims related to Manhattan Project era nuclear waste
  • A compensation program that began in 1992 has provided $2.6 billion for claims in Nevada, Utah and Arizona. The proposed measure would expand coverage  to New Mexico, Colorado, Idaho, Missouri, Montana and previously excluded areas of Nevada, Utah and Arizona

  • U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., had promised legislative action in the wake of reporting released earlier this month showing what the federal government and its contractors have known for decades about the dangers of disposing of materials used to build nuclear weapons

  • If signed into law, people who lived in specified zip codes for at least two years after Jan. 1 1949 and who contracted an illness covered under the statute, would be eligible for compensation of medical bills or a one time lump sum of $50,000

The amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act passed by a margin of 61-37. The full act passed the Senate, controlled by Democrats, by a vote of 86-11 Thursday night, ahead of a Senate summer recess. It will need to be reconciled in a conference committee, get approved again by both chambers and signed into law by President Joe Biden. 

A compensation program that began in 1992 has provided $2.6 billion for claims in Nevada, Utah and Arizona. The proposed measure would expand coverage  to New Mexico, Colorado, Idaho, Missouri, Montana and previously excluded areas of Nevada, Utah and Arizona.

U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., had promised legislative action in the wake of reporting released earlier this month showing what the federal government and its contractors have known for decades about the dangers of disposing of materials used to build nuclear weapons.

Contamination issues have plagued the St. Louis region since the 1940s, impacting the city of St. Louis, North St. Louis County and St. Charles County, where uranium was either processed, stored or dumped.

If signed into law, people who lived in one of 20 St. Louis area zip codes for at least two years after Jan. 1 1949 and who contracted an illness covered under the statute, would be eligible for compensation of medical bills or a one time lump sum of $50,000. The measure also authorizes a survivor benefit.

“In St. Louis, nobody knew that their water was poisoned, right, nobody knew that the soil was poisoned, but there are good folks in other states that have been badly affected and one of the things that’s great about this bill is is that it reauthorizes this victim’s compensation fund for those other states as well so I think we’ve got a pretty broad coalition,” Hawley told reporters Thursday evening after the amendment’s passage. “We’ve got states represented by Republicans and states represented by Democrats. This isn’t a partisan issue at all. This is about people’s health and its about basic justice and fairness.”

Notably, Hawley said Senate GOP leadership, including Minority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell, GOP Whip John Thune of South Dakota and Republican Conference Chairman John Barrasso of Wyoming, voted against the amendment.

Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia was the only Democrat to vote against it. Manchin chairs the House Energy and Natural Resources Committee, which is where Hawley has requested a hearing on the issue.

The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act has covered claims brought by uranium miners and millers, ore transporters, those who participated on site at atmospheric nuclear weapons tests and people who lived downwind of the Nevada Test site.

“The illnesses are ongoing. I’m afraid every time one of my kids get pregnant and or get sick even with the slightest headaches…we never know when the other shoe’s gonna drop,” said Karen Nickel, who grew up in the Coldwater Creek area of North St. Louis County and has seen a sister, children and grandchildren impacted by illnesses they trace to their exposure.

“It might be too late for the exposure of our family members but it’s not late for everyone else so this is what we’re hoping,” said Dawn Chapman, who has lived near the Westlake landfill in Bridgeton where waste has been stored. Chapman, who with Nickel founded JustMoms STL to advocate on the issue, says her husband and one of her children are sick with autoimmune illnesses connected to their exposure.

The House, controlled by Republicans, passed its version of the NDAA earlier this month that included a 5.2% pay raise for service members, but also blocked abortion coverage, Pentagon diversity initiatives and transgender care.