Residents of St. Charles County and surrounding areas gathered Tuesday evening at the St. Charles City-County Library in St. Peters for a town hall to learn more about the recently expanded Radiation Exposure Compensation Act.
Residents can receive compensation if they got sick after living, working or going to school near nuclear radiation in 21 Missouri ZIP codes that were approved and added by Congress to RECA over the summer. Individuals are eligible if they developed cancers or other diseases due to radiation exposure from U.S. nuclear weapons testing or from uranium mining.
St. Louis, St. Louis County and St. Charles County had not been included in the original program, despite well-documented contamination from World War II-era bomb making. The RECA expansion did not include a Metro East ZIP code where radioactive metals also were processed.
People who got sick could receive a one-time, tax-free payment of $50,000 or reimbursements of out-of-pocket health care expenses. Family members of people who died could receive $25,000.
"We want to make sure that everybody who has been exposed to nuclear radiation because of the government's negligence gets the relief that they deserve," Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo, said in a statement. Hawley is one of several legislators who sponsored legislation and advocated for expanding RECA.
The St. Charles City-County Library on Spencer Road was packed with over 200 people who wanted to learn how to complete a 24-page RECA compensation form. The application must be printed and mailed to the Department of Justice — submitting it digitally is not currently an option.
State Rep. Tricia Byrnes, R-Wentzville, who hosted the event, said at least 300,000 people are estimated to have been affected within the 21 Missouri ZIP codes. Byrnes highlighted the need for more advocates before the program expires in 2027.
"I became a politician because this impacted my family in all areas of the region," Byrnes said Tuesday. "I swam in the quarry and went to Francis Howell. My husband and I both grew up in Cold Water Creek, and our son had cancer at 15."
She said her son is now 25 years old and is doing much better. There are many who live outside the 21 eligible Missouri ZIP codes who have gotten sick, Byrnes said.
"In St. Charles County alone, I submitted a few more ZIP codes, but the DOJ only accepted the four that are currently there in St. Charles County," Byrnes said. "Same thing going on in St. Louis County, but we have areas that were impacted by this program in Missouri that are paid off by the (Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act), which is a workers' program. So that can be our guide on other areas (where) the federal government can recognize harm. Because if workers were harmed in another area, that means residents were also harmed."
Among the 21 Missouri ZIP codes, four in St. Charles County covers people who may have lived, worked or gone to school near the EPA Superfund sites in Weldon Spring, where the Mallinckrodt Chemical Co. refined uranium during the Cold War era, according to county officials. The site was later closed and abandoned for many years before it was remediated and capped with a mountain of rocks.
To apply for compensation, eligible individuals must provide proof of identity, proof of residency that includes tax, school and employment records, as well as voting or census records. They also need to show adequate proof of diagnosis.
St. Charles County Executive Steve Ehlmann said as of Tuesday, nearly 400 people had already come to the county's Recorder of Deeds office seeking proof of residency.
"People are going to need documents to show that they actually lived here at the time that they contracted their disease, and we're going to try to make it as easy as we can for people to get that information," Ehlmann said.
How to apply
● Print and complete the 24-page Manhattan Project Waste Claim form here.
● Gather the required documentation mentioned in the application, including proof of identity/relationship, proof of residency and proof of diagnosis.
● Make a copy of the entire application for your records.
● Mail to the Department of Justice at this address:
U.S. Department of Justice
Radiation Exposure Compensation Program
P.O. Box 146
Ben Franklin Station
Washington, D.C. 20044-0146
● Track your claim number, which is assigned by the Department of Justice at the beginning of processing.
Helpful resources
● Hawley's RECA hotline: 202-228-4388 or https://www.hawley.senate.gov
● Department of Justice RECA hotline: 1-800-729-7327 or https://www.justice.gov/civil/reca
● Check with your local city and county Recorder of Deeds and Circuit Courts to obtain the necessary birth, death and marriage certificates, divorce decrees and personal property tax receipts
● St. Charles County Library site with information about the RECA application
● Video of Tuesday's town hall RECA presentation at the St. Charles City-County Library
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