User:Olwig/Coldwater Creek

=== ''' **** Underlined text has been pulled from the existing Wikipedia page. The existing Wikipedia page is actually Coldwater Creek (Missouri river tributary). I see an option to change my Sandbox, but I was worried that I would lose my article, so I will hold off on making any changes for now.''' ===

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Coldwater Creek (also Cold Water Creek) is a 14.2 mile tributary of the Missouri River located in North St. Louis County in Missouri. It is known to be contaminated with uranium and residents in the area report high cancer rates among other medical issues.

The name "Cold Water Creek" is a translation of the original French name Rivière de L'eau Froide. The Spaniards called it Río Fernando, Spanish for "Ferdinand River". The French also called it Rivière aux Biches, French for "River of Roebucks".

Location
The creek begins in a small spring-fed lake in Overland, then flows north through the cities of Breckenridge Hills, St. Ann, and Bridgeton before entering a culvert underneath Lambert International Airport. North of the airport, it flows northeast through the communities of  Hazelwood, Berkeley, Florissant, Old Jamestown, Black Jack, and Spanish Lake. According to St. Louis Magazine, "It runs past schools, golf courses, and soccer fields."

The creek terminates at the Missouri River between the Lewis Bridge and the Columbia Bottom Conservation Area.

History and Nuclear Waste Contamination
The contamination of Coldwater Creek is linked to the creation of the first atom bomb. In 1942, Mallinckrodt Chemical Works contracted with the United States Government on the Manhattan Project to provide uranium processing and waste management out of its facilities in downtown St. Louis, Missouri. After World War II ended, Mallinckrodt transported hundreds of thousands of tons of highly radioactive byproduct to a plot of land near the St. Louis airport--an area that would soon become a highly populated suburb--storing it in deteriorating steel drums that were left uncovered and exposed to the elements. In 1946, St. Louis-area reports began questioning "the trucks that were hauling dirt from the plant to land bordering the airport," but both Mallinckrodt and the Government reported that the waste was "not radioactive or otherwise dangerous." However, a later uncovered internal Millanckrodt memo from 1949 revealed that the company knew of the dangers, writing that the residue could not be transferred into new containers because "the material was so dangerous" that "the hazards to the workers involved in such an occupation would be considerable." From 1947, the company and the USACE used a 21.7-acre property near Lambert Field for the purpose of burying steel drums containing the radioactive wastes from the downtown plant and other locations. That site became the St. Louis Airport Storage Site (SLAPSS).

In 1966, the Cotter Corporation purchased the nuclear waste and transported it to a site on Latty Avenue located in Hazelwood, Missouri. Cotter planned to "dry the material and ship it to its uranium mill plant in Cañon City, Colorado." Like before, the toxic waste "was left open to the elements." Within six years, "most of the valuable metals in the waste had been identified and shipped" and Cotter needed "to dispose of remaining waste that had little or no monetary value." Because transporting the remaining waste, which included "8,900 tons of worthless leached barium sulfate and miscellaneous residues and debris," would be too costly, in 1973, Cotter, without government approval, had the radioactive waste mixed into soil and dumped it at West Lake Landfill.

Material from both the original SLAPPS site and from the Latty site eventually made its way into the creek bed and to many neighboring homes and properties.

Superfund Site Designation and Recent Developments
In 1989, the United States Environmental Protection Agency added St. Louis Airport/Hazelwood Interim Storage/Futura Coatings Co., a site that encompasses Coldwater Creek, to the National Priorities List of the Superfund program. The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) was tasked with overseeing the cleanup of Coldwater Creek.

Between 2008 and 2011, local residents noticed what seemed an unusual concentration of cancers, other illnesses, and birth defects among their age cohort. Many were graduates of McCluer North High School and organized around its class reunions. In August 2015, the United States Army Corps of Engineers admitted that they found thorium-230 in the creek. In January 2016, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention investigated the high rate of cancers in the area, and confirmed a potential link between the cluster and the polluted creek.

In 2017, HBO released a documentary film about the effects of the contamination. Atomic Homefront "documents those (mostly women) who have mobilized to get answers, created a powerful coalition and continue to fight for environmental justice." The documentary uses the St. Louis area as "the case study for how legacy radioactive sites, in suburban areas, are presently being mismanaged and mishandled by federal and state agencies and private corporations who are supposed to be accountable."

In 2022, radioactive material was found at Jana Elementary School in the Hazelwood School District in Florissant. The radioactive material includes lead-210, polonium, radium, and other toxic materials. The Army Corps of Engineers has been cleaning up the creek for decades but refuses to share detailed information with the public about its findings.

On July 12, 2023, after a months-long investigation into the contamination of Coldwater Creek, the Missouri Independent, MuckRock, and the Associated Press released a report finding that the federal government had been downplaying the dangers for seventy-five years.

In March of 2024, the USACE obtained soil samples from six homes built over thirty years ago near Coldwater Creek. According to the Corps' St. Louis office, they decided to take the samples after finding contamination in the backyards of the homes.

Clean up of Coldwater Creek is not expected to conclude until 2038. According to a 2023 report by the United States Government Accountability Office, cleanup costs are expected to exceed $400M.

Lawsuits
Over the last two decades, many lawsuits have been filed against the entities responsible for the contamination of Coldwater Creek. A brief overview of some of the notable, and ongoing, cases is below:

McClurg et al. v. Mallinckrodt, LLC, et al.

Beginning in 2012, hundreds of individuals who, at some point in their lives, were exposed to Coldwater Creek started filing lawsuits against Cotter and Mallinckrodt, alleging public liability under the Price–Anderson Act. The individual cases were consolidated into what became known as the "McClurg cases." On October 18, 2018, after six years of extensive discovery, the Eastern District Court of Missouri issued an order imposing additional requirements on plaintiffs in the ongoing and in future cases. In the Court's view, establishing the causation element necessary to plaintiffs' claims (i.e., that defendants' acts caused plaintiffs' injuries), would "be a difficult burden for the Plaintiffs to meet." Therefore, to avoid future drawn out, complex litigation, the Court believed it was necessary for plaintiffs "to make a threshold showing on key elements of their claims at the outset of the litigation before proceeding with a more detailed and expansive discovery." Moving forward, plaintiffs must "produce certain specified information regarding their claim(s)" including things like expert disclosures. This order was made applicable "to all cases alleging Radionuclide Exposure Claim(s) against Cotter and/or Mallinckrodt."

Over the next decade, many additional cases brought against the defendants were consolidated into the McClurg case.

In re Cotter Corporation (N.S.L.)

In February of 2018, multiple property owners filed suit against the St. Louis Airport, Cotter Corporation, and other entities. Cotter Corporation subsequently filed a third-party action against Mallinckrodt among others. As of March 30, 2024, the case has not concluded and is still in the appeals process.

Butler v. Mallinckrodt LLC

On October 5, 2018, four plaintiffs brought public liability actions under the Price-Anderson Act against Mallinckrodt and Cotter Corporation. Pursuant to the order issued in the McClurg cases, the plaintiffs offered three expert witnesses to provide the necessary expert disclosures. However, the Eastern District Court of Missouri subsequently granted defendants' motions to exclude plaintiffs' expert testimony. Then, in a September 30, 2022 decision, the Court granted the defendants' motion for summary judgment because, without any expert testimony to establish things like plaintiffs' actual level of exposure, the plaintiffs could not prove causation. As of March 30, 2024, an update on the case, including whether plaintiffs appealed the decision, is not known.

Legislative Efforts
In 2018, Missouri Governor Mike Parson signed a bill into law establishing the Radioactive Waste Investigations Fund. The fund, which was intended to receive up to $150,000 annually, would allow "the department of natural resources to investigate concerns of exposure to radioactive wastes." According to an information officer with Missouri's Department of Natural Resources, however, as of July 2023, no transfers were ever made into the fund. In December 2023, Missouri State Representative Mark Matthiesen introduced House Bill 1673 which, if passed, would deposit $300,000 into the fund. On March 26, 2024, the Committee on Conservation and Natural Resources voted to report the bill to the House with the recommendation that it passes. Per Missouri's legislative process, the next step will be for the House to debate and vote on the bill. As of March 30, 2024, the bill is not yet on the House calendar.

Missouri Congresswoman Cori Bush has been a staunch advocate for cleaning up Coldwater Creek. In 2022, she introduced the Coldwater Creek Signage Act which would require the Army Corps to post signage around the creek warning of the dangers of the radioactive waste found in the creek's water. In early January 2024, the Congresswomen announced that her office was working with the EPA and the Army Corps and that the signs would finally be posted. Bush, along with U.S. Senator Josh Hawley, has also called upon the federal government to compensate residents whose health has been impacted by the contamination.

In 2023, Senator Hawley sponsored an expansion of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act ("RECA"), which is set to expire. Under the proposed expansion of RECA, individuals who resided in one of twenty Missouri zip codes after 1949 for at least two years would be entitled to compensation. The White House, in an announcement issued on March 6, 2024, endorsed the bill writing: "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." On March 7, 2024, the Senate voted 69-30 in favor of the bill. However, the bill was not included in the federal funding package passed by the House on March 22, 2024. Inclusion of the bill "would have accelerated the bill's passage." If House Speaker Mike Johnson brings the bill to the House floor and it passes, the bill "would extend the expiration date and claims filing deadline for the RECA program and create new eligibility for individuals who developed specific health conditions and who lived in communities impacted by waste from the Manhattan Project in Missouri, Tennessee, Alaska, and Kentucky.”

Just Moms STL
In 2013, three St. Louis residents formed Just Moms STL, a non-profit group advocating for a "safe and permanent solution" to the toxic waste contamination. In addition to raising awareness and educating their communities on the issues, Just Moms STL also provides resources for those looking to get involved and tools for those impacted by exposure. In February 2024, the co-founders traveled to Washington, D.C. where they met with various lawmakers and advocated for compensation for radiation exposure victims. In March 2024, Co-founder Dawn Chapman joined Senator Hawley as his guest at the State of the Union.

Coldwater Creek - Just the Facts
Coldwater Creek - Just the Facts is a grassroots organization focused on educating the community and healthcare professionals and working toward inclusion in the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act.