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Lawsuit alleges Kansas City mayor tried to intimidate activist over request for records
A Kansas City activist has filed a lawsuit alleging Mayor Quinton Lucas attempted to intimidate her into withdrawing a request for public records from his office. Lora McDonald, executive director of the Metro Organization for Racial and Economic Equity, or MORE2, sued the city earlier this month over alleged violations of the Missouri Sunshine Law. […]
Southwest Missouri river’s listing as polluted may set up fight over meatpacker permit
The Pomme de Terre River’s status as an impaired waterway is poised to set up a fight between environmentalists and a meatpacking plant in Southwest Missouri. Missouri Prime Beef Packers has requested permission from the state to discharge treated wastewater from its facility near Pleasant Hope directly into the river. It currently applies the water […]
Biden supports expanding compensation to radiation victims in Missouri, New Mexico
President Joe Biden on Wednesday said he’s interested in expanding a federal program to compensate people who have gotten sick because of the country’s nuclear weapons development and testing programs. The Associated Press reported Biden told a crowd in New Mexico he was ”prepared to help in terms of making sure that those folks are […]
Energy secretary stops short of endorsing atomic waste victims fund in Missouri visit
ST. LOUIS — Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm in a visit to Missouri on Tuesday would not commit to supporting bipartisan legislation meant to compensate people who have been exposed to radioactive material from U.S. weapons development and production. “I can’t speak for the administration on that particular piece because I just don’t know the answer,” […]
Missouri Democrat calls for special session on St. Louis nuclear waste, Parson says no
One of Missouri’s top Democratic officials asked the governor on Monday to call a special legislative session in response to news reports of the “unacceptable mismanagement” of radioactive waste in the St. Louis area. “The problems related with this waste have festered for nearly 80 years,” House Minority Leader Crystal Quade said in a letter […]
Missouri may allow meatpacker to release wastewater into already-impaired river
A southwest Missouri river already contaminated with E. coli could soon receive up to 350,000 gallons of wastewater daily from a meatpacking facility. And while the facility is expected to treat the wastewater for contamination before releasing it, critics of the proposal are worried about the operators’ history of violations at the site. “It would […]
U.S. Senate OKs Hawley proposal to expand coverage for atomic bomb-related illness to St. Louis
The U.S. Senate voted narrowly Thursday in favor of expanding a program that compensates Americans who become ill because of exposure to radiation from the country’s development and testing of nuclear weapons to cover Missourians. The proposal, offered by Sen. Josh Hawley, was attached as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act, which authorizes […]
Missouri warned feds in 2021 radioactive contamination of groundwater wasn’t improving
Missouri environmental regulators warned the federal government in 2021 that radioactive contamination of groundwater from a uranium processing site near St. Louis wasn’t improving despite cleanup efforts, according to documents reviewed by The Independent and MuckRock. Officials with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources wrote a letter to the U.S. Department of Energy in May […]
Hawley demands St. Louis nuclear cleanup, faces questions on his environmental record
WELDON SPRING — U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley on Thursday decried the federal government’s “negligence” that allowed radioactive waste to sicken St. Louis-area residents for decades and invited Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm to visit the community still suffering from the legacy of the atomic bomb. “You all have had enough of it,” Hawley said. “I’ve had […]
New findings inspire state, federal lawmakers to demand action on St. Louis radioactive waste
Revelations that government officials and private companies downplayed or failed to fully investigate the dangers of radioactive waste in St. Louis sparked outrage among state and federal lawmakers Wednesday and a promise from U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley to seek funding for residents who have become ill. At the heart of the bipartisan calls for action […]
Records reveal 75 years of government downplaying, ignoring risks of St. Louis radioactive waste
For kids like Sandy Mitchell, Ted Theis and Janet Johnson, childhood in the North St. Louis County suburbs in the 1960s and ‘70s meant days playing along the banks or splashing in the knee-deep waters of Coldwater Creek. They caught turtles and tadpoles, jumped into deep stretches of the creek from rope swings and ate […]
Five revelations about St. Louis’ history with radioactive waste
The Missouri Independent and MuckRock spent months scouring thousands of pages of government records about St. Louis’ involvement in the race to build an atomic bomb during World War II and decades of environmental contamination that followed. Journalists sought to lay bare the degree to which government officials knew of the spreading contamination and the […]