Four new states could be added to the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act if Senator Josh Hawley's bill passes in the Senate on Thursday.
Hawley, a Republican from Missouri, is hoping to extend the RECA expiration date and claims filing deadline while also allowing residents in four new states to become eligible for compensation if they developed specific health conditions from living in communities impacted by waste from the Manhattan Project. The Manhattan Project was a U.S. government research project conducted in the 1940s to produce the first nuclear weapons.
If the bill passes, parts of Missouri, including St. Louis, Tennessee, Alaska, and Kentucky, will be included in RECA.
Currently, RECA covers 12 states, and eligibility changes based on location. The states covered by RECA include Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Wyoming, South Dakota, Washington, Utah, Idaho, North Dakota, Oregon, Texas and Nevada.
Hawley's bill garnered support from Just Moms STL, a St. Louis advocacy group led by Dawn Chapman. The group will travel to Washington, D.C., for President Joe Biden's State of the Union address on Thursday night, according to local news station KSDK.
Just Moms STL has advocated for radiation victims since 2012. The process of purifying uranium during the Manhattan Project produced toxic waste, which was stored in barrels at a site in St. Louis through the mid-1960s, according to the group's website. Over time, the waste illegally wound up at a St. Louis landfill, which caught fire in 2010.
In 2012, Just Moms STL founders were alarmed by the intense odor coming from the landfill and alerted authorities. Later, it was discovered that the landfill held toxic waste, as well as waste from the Manhattan Project.
The White House announced its support of Hawley's bill on Wednesday.
"The President believes we have a solemn obligation to address toxic exposure, especially among those who have been placed in harm's way by the government's actions," a statement from the White House said.
Since the program began in 1990, RECA has provided compensatory payments to more than 40,000 people, Tampa Bay news station Bay News 9 reported. If Hawley's bill passes, an additional 600,000 people could become eligible for compensation.
If Hawley's bill passes the Senate, it will move on to the House of Representatives.
When asked for comment, a spokesperson for Hawley directed Newsweek to a post the senator made on X, formerly Twitter.
"Today the Senate will again vote on my bill to compensate Missourians & other Americans poisoned by government nuclear radiation," Hawley said in the post. "For decades, Missourians have been lied to and denied justice. Now is the time to make this right."
If the bill doesn't pass, the program will shutter on June 7.
"It is vital that Congress move quickly to reauthorize the program and to update it to reflect our knowledge now of just how extensive the federal government's nuclear program was and the effects on people really were," Hawley said this week.
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Anna Skinner is a Newsweek senior reporter based in Indianapolis. Her focus is reporting on the climate, environment and weather ... Read more
