The Nuclear Neighborhood By: Charlie Meyers

THE PAST TO TODAY

Beginning in 1939, the American nuclear weapons initiative of the Manhattan Project was in full swing. Located just north of Downtown St. Louis, Mallinckrodt Chemical Works was the chief uranium processing plant for the project. When the project started to wind down in the mid-1940s, Mallinckrodt Chemical Works began to ship the radioactive waste offsite to two underpopulated areas, known as the Hazelwood Interim Storage Site (HISS) on Latty Avenue and The St. Louis Airport Site (SLAPS.) In the decades after the Manhattan Project, the government stored the waste haphazardly, subject to temperamental winds and rains. Over the years, the radioactive waste began to seep into the ground and water, particularly into the nearby Coldwater Creek.

Though many federal organizations were aware of the spread of contamination, residents were kept in the dark. The soil near Jana Elementary, located on one of the contaminated tributaries of Coldwater Creek, contained large amounts of uranium with the same signature as the Mallinckrodt Chemical Works uranium, according to discoveries from Just Moms STL. Despite a lack of government transparency, some Hazelwood residents have become aware of the depth of the issue through peers, neighbors and social media. Tom Lands, lifelong Hazelwood resident and member of the social media Facebook group Coldwater Creek Just The Facts Please, noted how he first discovered these problems within his community. “I really never knew a whole lot about [the toxic waste] until after a bunch of people started talking on Facebook,” Lands said. “I want to say around 2010-2012, we started discovering that a whole lot of people that we had grown up with were dying of rare cancers.”

I want to say around 2010-2012, we started discovering that a whole lot of people that we had grown up with were dying of rare cancers.” - Tom Lands, Lifelong Hazelwood Resident.

“I had found out that 15 people on my street that I had grown up with had already passed away from cancers,” Nickel said. “These were people that were in their 40s 50s 60s that died of rare cancers that you shouldn't have even heard of in middle-aged people.” “My sister got thyroid cancer a few years ago, and it kind of came out of nowhere, and grew really rapidly,” said Sarah Geitscher-Hartman, Clayton High School Health teacher, and former Hazelwood resident. “We have no history in our family of that type of cancer. Even the form that she has isn't genetic. So we asked a lot of questions." Chris Hwande, science teacher at Captain Elementary School in the Clayton School District, grew up in Florissant and Hazelwood and worked at Jana Elementary School from 2001 to 2008. Hwande currently struggles with an autoimmune disorder. In addition to the overrepresentation of rare cancers clustered around Coldwater Creek, rare autoimmune disorders are also common among current and former residents of the affected North County neighborhoods. “I actually heard the news about Jana being closed when I was down in Springfield doing some work with the state,” said Hwande. “I can honestly say I cried in my hotel.”

“I actually heard the news about Jana being closed when I was down in Springfield doing some work with the state. I can honestly say I cried in my hotel.” - Chris Hwande, former Hazelwood resident and Jana teacher

Hazelwood residents Karen Nickel and Dawn Chapman have also been affected by the damage done to their community. They founded Just Moms STL to seek environmental justice for North County residents. Chapman and Nickel have spent a decade since being informed on the news on the front lines of the movement to hold the government accountable. Their goal: get the waste removed from their community. Both women point their frustration squarely at the federal government and its respective agencies. According to documents provided to the Globe by Chapman, the US Department of Energy and the Atomic Energy Commission have been aware of this issue since the 1960s and have done little to protect the community. According to documents provided to the Globe by Chapman, The US Department of Energy and the Atomic Energy Commission have been aware of this issue for decades. Despite the efforts of those like Chapman and Nickel, this awareness does not seem to extend beyond those affected and the immediate community. “I do think it takes some major intervention at this point,” Hwande said. “It's not something that should be handled by the local population. It's not something that should be funded by the local population. This is something that we clearly need help with.” “I really wish the [federal] government would step down and do something,” Lands said.

Bernaugh echoed this sentiment. “In a lot of ways, we feel like we're at odds with the Army Corps of Engineers,” she said. “Despite efforts to support the Hazelwood School District, we sometimes feel like we're at odds with their leadership because they aren't able to grasp how important the community is. The Environmental Protection Agency and the Corps of Engineers have both been involved in the cleanup processes that have been slowly unfolding for the past decade. “In our 10-year fight we have always been one big community caught in between two agencies that had differing opinions,” said Chapman.

The purpose of the Corps is to provide public engineering services in order to strengthen the country's economy, and national security, as well as to reduce natural disasters — a fundamentally different approach than the one taken by the EPA. “The community very much feels like the Corps does not does not go about protecting people the way other agencies do,” Chapman said. The public pressure on the Corps is to do more accurate and in-depth testing. They currently use a search and retrieval approach to the conduction of testing for toxic material; The same methodology used at Jana. “[The Corps] has not tested any indoor sampling at all,” said Nickel. “They were only doing backyard sampling, and that again was only because of pure public pressure. Them testing in parks was because of public pressure.” Once multiple federal agencies and private law firms started to conduct testing in North County and found radioactive waste, community activists began to do their research. When Bernaugh asked the Corps at a public meeting if they were testing at Jana, and to share their information and documents regarding the testing, they refused to do so unless it was through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, which could cost upwards of $1000. “Everyone wanted to go in and test that school in the first place, but their reluctance to do so, and frankly their refusal to give documentation, is what has caused this whole situation,” said Chapman. “I don't believe the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers are acting with that same level of due diligence to sound the alarm and to protect students and staff,” Bernaugh said.

As a result, residents live in fear of contracting a lethal or terminal illness and struggle to cope with existing medical conditions “My four-year-old granddaughter was rushed to the ER a couple of months back because she was doubled over in stomach pain and I'm automatically thinking, oh my god, she's got cancer,” Nickel said.

“My four-year-old granddaughter was rushed to the ER a couple of months back because she was doubled over in stomach pain and I'm automatically thinking, oh my god, she's got cancer." - Dawn Chapman, JustMomsSTL co-founder

When Chapman figured out her son had type one diabetes, a diagnosis that many parents would be devastated to get, she was overcome by solace. “I let out the biggest sigh of relief. And I'm so sad about it because I literally thought he had leukemia,” Chapman said. “It didn't go how we wanted, but you know what, he's going to live. And there's others that won't.” Like Nickel, Bernaugh and Chapman, Lands also lives in constant fear of the unknown: “It’s horrifying. I mean, you don't know what you're breathing every day. You don't know if you go and plant a garden, if the soil is okay. You don't know any of that.”

THE SCIENCE

“There's a lot of personal connections where, you know people who have autoimmune disorders, you know people that have had multiple miscarriages, you know people who have had cancer,” Hwande said. Many residents want answers. Multiple federal organizations and private law firms have conducted testing on terrain in North County. Just Moms STL, the organization founded by Chapman and Nickel, serves as a repository of countless documents about contamination and the ongoing clean up process.

“The Boston Chemical Data Corp. study of Jana Elementary said the test results indicate high levels of radioactive lead. Polonium also known as Pb 210 found in the following areas: inside the Jana Elementary school building, and the playground areas soil,” an ABC news report said. “According to reports, every time that they [the students] went out onto the playground, they were potentially exposed to radioactive lead,” said Bernuagh. “And from the Army Corps of Engineers reports, high levels of thorium right on the surface.” In a study conducted by the CDC, the agency documented all of the ways residents could be exposed to deadly amounts of radioactive material. In most situations, exposure is unavoidable. “The way people were, and are, exposed to this radioactive waste is shocking,” said Chapman. “And that's why so many people are sick. It isn't just that you had to go play in the creek or live next to the creek. Doing simple things like playing basketball or riding your bike is how people become exposed. And everyone back then rode a bike, right?” For Nickel, who lives with lupus, psoriatic arthritis, and Sjogren's syndrome, she often feels trapped in a state of poor health. “For me it's a punch in the gut,” Nickel said. “All the time. It's every time I have to swallow 10 pills. It's when COVID hit, it was me being isolated in my house more than others. I was angry.”

“For me it's a punch in the gut. All the time. It's every time I have to swallow 10 pills. It's when COVID hit, it was me being isolated in my house more than others. I was angry.” - Karen Nickel, Hazelwood resident and JustMomsSTL co-founder

Hwande also considers how growing up in Hazelwood affects her health today. “I have an autoimmune disorder currently,” she said. “Might I have had it? Maybe. Is there any way to know for sure? Probably not. I do think that there are enough incidents that you have to wonder, right?” Chapman noted a recent Corps meeting that was open to the public, where there was a row of five moms present who all had children that were born with the same rare heart birth defect. This birth defect typically affects one in 500,000, and all these women lived within a mile of each other along Coldwater Creek. “A complete statistical anomaly,” according to Chapman. 

JANA ELEMENTARY

“Jana is a symptom of the entire problem of North County,” said Nickel. Although only recently has the school made headlines, issues have been present since it was built in 1972. In June of 2021, Bernaugh pushed the state Board of Education (BOE) to inform the public about these issues. “[The school district] had a school board meeting back in July, and literally voted to not inform parents,” Bernaugh said. “They felt like they could not effectively take action, so they took no action.” When Bernaugh attained her FOIA request and gained access to the Corps’ findings in 2021, she found details of a map with more sample results involving Jana's property, according to an article from 5 On Your Side. She decided to alert the school board and bring this issue to light. When the school was shut down in October and teachers and students were displaced, the impact on the surrounding community was dramatic. “Class sizes are going to be disrupted. Teachers have been absolutely disrupted,” Bernaugh said. “There are some long-term impacts where we are concerned that after the treatment, there will be a further teacher shortage. The Hazelwood School District already started the year with over 38 vacancies.” According to Bernaugh, kindergarten through fifth grade went virtual with little support, causing inconveniences for many families. “There's a lot of families, particularly in our area but all across this nation, that are one or two paychecks away from homelessness. And that is not an understatement,” Bernaugh said.

In fact, according to the Missouri census reporter, by 2021, 11.3% of Hazelwoods population lived below the poverty line. According to ABC News, Senator Josh Hawley wrote a letter to Corps Lt. Gen. Scott Spellmen. The letter reads, “It should go without saying that hazardous, radioactive contamination has no place in schools, or anywhere near schools, or anywhere near any place where children are. And it should also go without saying the federal government must be honest and transparent about the facts.” Additionally, ABC News reported that Sen. Hawley urged Joe Biden to declare a federal emergency over this issue and called for “immediate relief” for impacted families. The residents wait, as they have done for the last decade, wondering if this will finally be the time when the clean up comes. “When I look at the kids at Jana, I see my child's face in all of them,” Bernaugh said. “I feel for the teachers and the students tremendously,” said Hwande. “I feel for the families who are having to figure out what to do, what choices do we make, do we stay or do we go, do we trust in the process?”

“When I look at the kids at Jana, I see my child's face in all of them." - Ashley Bernaugh, Jana Elementary school PTA president

Yet in the midst of the tragedy and hardship, community members have found strength in one another. “The uniquenesses in our tragic experience helped to tie us together,” said Bernaugh. “When you find those like-minded individuals, you can utilize the strengths of the individuals who are in that group to start driving change and to be visible so that people know they're not in this alone,” Hwande said. Much of this advocacy by parents is motivated by fear. “The parent in me is really fearful for the people that are going through this and don't necessarily know what's to come. And then the educator in me, is like, this is a hot mess that needs to be figured out,” said Geitscher-Hartman. 

The discoveries surrounding the testing done at Jana elementary school provide a platform and a voice for those fighting for this issue in the Hazelwood school district and North County community. “People will pay attention when something's bad for kids. But if it doesn't directly affect you, most people don't care,” said Lands. Nickel notes how authorities have paid attention to the national headlines garnered by the Jana testing. “We want to keep Jana in the spotlight and get some kind of resolution,” said Nickel. However, there is also indignation that the Hazelwood School Board did not consult the PTA on the decision regarding the future of Jana elementary, and the shutting down of the school. “To directly block that cooperation is detrimental and has caused harm that did not have to be here,” said Bernaugh. “We don't feel like the people in charge really understood the value. Jana is a well-performing school too. So to take a pocket of excellence and just condemn it does not do it justice.”

As the Hazelwood School District works to relocate students and staff into new schools, those working to enact change are looking to speed up reforms and help in any way they can for North County residents. “We have to start talking about the bigger picture and what that looks like for North County and keeping that part in the news because that's the problem,” said Nickel. “There are a lot of Janas in North County.” Similarly, Hwande said, “It's certainly no fault of the Hazelwood school district that I am aware of. The problem wasn't created by them, but they've inherited it. And so now they have to figure out what their next steps are.”

THE FUTURE