A ZIP code in Venice, Madison and Granite City in the Metro East should be included in the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, Illinois U.S. Rep. Nikki Budzinski and area leaders said on Sunday.
“These communities have been waiting too long,” she said.
The 62060 ZIP code in question is home to a former Dow Chemical Co. factory that straddles the municipal boundary of Venice and Madison. Employees manufactured uranium and thorium during the late 1950s and early ‘60s — which left millions of pounds of radioactive waste that wasn’t cleaned up until 2007.
While a related federal program has paid more than $64.5 million to 383 former employees of the facility and another one just north in Granite City, area residents have never been eligible for government compensation.
The federal legislation pays $50,000 to residents who’ve been exposed to radiation from the nation’s nuclear weapons program and have since developed related illnesses.
Currently, the program, RECA, does not include any ZIP codes in St. Louis, St. Louis County, St. Charles County and the Metro East — and local lawmakers on both sides of the Mississippi River have vowed to change that. However, elected officials in both political parties from both Missouri and Illinois have been unsuccessful persuading their colleagues to do so.
While versions of the bill have passed the U.S. Senate with new Missouri ZIP codes, the U.S. House hasn’t followed suit. In June, legislation in front of the House Rules Committee that included both Missouri and Illinois didn’t make it out of committee.
Given that members of both political parties have advocated for RECA expansion, Budzinski said she’s optimistic Congress can work out a deal.
“There are few issues in Washington where you can see both the Senate and the House come together — Democrats and Republicans come together,” said Budzinski, D-Springfield. “Because the impact of radioactive waste on our communities doesn't discriminate along party lines, we're really coming together, and I think hopefully going to get this done.”
Most recently, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, proposed changing how the federal government funds the compensation package. Some Republicans have said re-upping the $50 billion program is too expensive, which is why previous versions have failed, Hawley said.
After touring the site near the former factory on Sunday, Budzinski said it’s important for the government to right its wrongs.
“What is the price tag on a child that has suffered from a pediatric cancer or from a grandfather or a father that carries the burden of knowing that he was working in a facility and brought that radioactive impact into his home?” Budzinski said. “How do you put a price tag on that?”
An informal survey conducted by former employees of the Metro East factory starting in 2009 found 368 cancer cases among residents in a six-block radius of the site. No government agency appears to have formally documented the cancer rates or health outcomes of residents in the community surrounding the plant.
“This radiation, it doesn't play favorites. It doesn't matter what color you are, what your religion is, if you are rich or poor, young or old. It's an equal opportunity poison,” said Larry Burgan, one of two former employees who’ve documented the area’s illnesses. “Because of that, everyone everywhere is at risk, and the sooner we reduce that risk, and stop the contamination, the health problems in this community, the safer everyone everywhere will be.”
Budzinski said she recently talked with Hawley and Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, about finding new paths to expand the program. The second-term congresswoman believes the annual defense spending bill or a congressional funding bill may offer the best avenues for adding the Metro East to RECA.
“We're going to get this done for these communities because they deserve it,” Budzinski said. “I will keep pushing for inclusion of this bipartisan package in this new congressional term, and we're not giving up.”
