Hawley Demands Answers about Neighborhood Radioactive Contamination: ‘The Community Deserves Full Transparency’

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Friday, May 30, 2025
Today U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) sent aletterto Lieutenant General William H. Graham, Jr. of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) regarding reports that the USACE plans to buy out residential homes in the St. Louis region due to radioactive contamination. The Senator stated that city officials were recently made aware of proposed buyouts of six properties in the Cades Cove subdivision near Coldwater Creek. These properties were previously publicly identified by USACE as the subject of detailed sampling.
“[T]he community deserves full transparency about your plans for further testing, remediation, buyouts, and any health risks to residents,”the Senator said.The Senator called out USACE for previously downplaying concerns about contamination and assuring residents that there was no immediate risk.“It should come as no surprise that the community is extremely concerned about proposals for residential buyouts after USACE previously downplayed the potential risks,”Senator Hawley continued.The Senator asked USACE whether the contamination extended to other properties along Coldwater Creek outside the historic floodplain and requested that the Army answer a series of questions in writing on the issue.
Read the full letterhereor below
May 30, 2025
Lieutenant General William H. Graham, Jr., USAChief of Engineers and Commanding GeneralU.S. Army Corps of Engineers441 G Street NWWashington, DC 20314-1000Dear Lieutenant General Graham,I write with great alarm about new reports that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) plans to buy out residential homes in the St. Louis region due to radioactive contamination.Earlier this week, Florissant Mayor Timothy Lowery stated that city officials were recently made aware of proposed buyouts of six properties in the Cades Cove subdivision, which is near Coldwater Creek. These properties were previously publicly identified by USACE as the subject of detailed sampling. But the community deserves full transparency about your plans for further testing, remediation, buyouts, and any health risks to residents.On March 5, 2024, I wrote to your predecessor about a nightmare scenario: disclosure by USACE that the nuclear contamination in Coldwater Creek may extend beneath residents’ homes. At the time, your office said that the contamination in Cades Cove, which was identified as part of an “old creek meander,” was buried deep enough it may not be a problem. In a response to my letter dated March 15, 2024, your predecessor said that the contamination at Cades Cove “does not present an immediate health risk” and “there is no immediate health hazard to homeowners and other residents.” He also indicated that you first disclosed some findings to residents of the subdivision in May 2019, nearly six years ago. It should come as no surprise that the community is extremely concerned about proposals for residential buyouts after USACE previously downplayed the potential risks.These residential buyouts also raise questions about other properties along Coldwater Creek. I have long requested that robust testing and sampling activities take place outside the 10-year floodplain of Coldwater Creek, and parts of the properties of the Cades Cove subdivision are outside this zone. In its response to my letter last year, USACE stated that it “remains committed to sampling any area requiring further investigation” while also maintaining that “to our knowledge, there are no other areas along Coldwater Creek with this specific situation of contamination within such close proximity to homes.” The community deserves to know why you believe the risk is limited only to this subdivision.To ensure full transparency about your continued sampling and remediation activities, please respond to the following questions in writing by no later than June 27, 2025.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.Sincerely,Josh HawleyUnited States Senator
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