Ambient office = 99 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 102 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 101 nanosieverts per hour

Tomato from Central Market =90 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 86 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 80 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient office = 94 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 102 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 98 nanosieverts per hour

Red bell pepper from Central Market = 95 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 86 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 76 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient office = 95 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 58 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 46 nanosieverts per hour

Iceberg lettuce from Central Market = 115 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 122 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 113 nanosieverts per hour

Dover Sole from Central = 91 nanosieverts per hour

Part 2 of 2 Parts (Please read Part 1 first)
    Tina Cordova is a cancer survivor and founder of a group of New Mexico downwinders. She talked about the wave of momentum for expanding the compensation program that has bee building since “Oppenheimer,” a film about the development of the first atomic bomb, open  last year.
     Cordova said, “You know, we are ground zero. We’re where it all started. The origins of the whole nuclear program are in New Mexico, and we were the first people exposed to radiation as a result of an atomic bomb and to be left out for 79 years isjust truly unacceptable.”
     Cordova has lost many family members and friends to cancer over the years. Thursday marked the eleventh anniversary of her father’s death. She said she was thankful to be in Washington to celebrate the vote. She added that “People have been waiting for justice for far too long, and it’s just simply time to do the right thing.”
     The vote was a rare up-or-down roll call on standalone legislation because Congress is busy trying to fund the government. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., announced that he would send the bill to the Senate floor last week amid negotiations on the spending package.
     Hawley would not say if he had threatened to hold up the spending bill over his legislation. It was included in a massive defense bill last year but stripped out at the last minute. He said he had pledged to use “every tool at his disposal” to get the bill passed.
     Persuading the GOP-led House to take up and pass the legislation might be more difficult. Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., is among those pushing for the new bill.
     In St. Louis, nuclear waste stored near Lambert Airport leaked into Coldwater Creek in the 1960s. Many people who live near the meandering creek believe the contamination is responsible for cancers and other illnesses. However, experts say connecting radiation exposure to illness is complicated. Cancer concerns also have been raised by people in nearby St. Charles County, Missouri.  Uranium was processed there and a large quarry became contaminated, resulting in a Superfund cleanup.

     In 2022, a St. Louis County grade school was closed amid worries that radioactive contamination from Coldwater Creek got onto the playground and inside the building. The Army Corps of Engineers announced this week that it is investigating a few homes near the creek after high radiation levels were found in their backyards.

     After the report by AP and the other news agencies last year, Hawley introduced an amendment to the annual defense bill that would have extended the law beyond its original expiration date. It also would have provided health care coverage and compensation to so-called “downwinders” exposed to radiation during weapons testing in several new regions. People in Missouri who were exposed to the nuclear waste would also be covered. However, it was removed during negotiations with the House.
     Advocates for the bill who traveled to Washington for the vote said it represents hope for them and their families. They have been burdened with high medical costs.
     Christen Commuso works for the advocacy group Missouri Coalition for the Environment. She said she has dealt with many health issues, including thyroid cancer, and has had to at times ration her care because it is so costly.
     Commuso said, “It’s not about putting money in my pocket. It’s about providing me the ability to get the care that I deserve and need.”

Ambient office = 100 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 85 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 82 nanosieverts per hour

Blueberry from Central Market = 96 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 77 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 70 nanosieverts per hour

Part 1 of 2 Parts
     The Senate passed new legislation Thursday that would compensate U.S. citizens exposed to radiation by the government by renewing a law initially passed more than three decades ago.
     The bill was co-sponsored by Senators Josh Hawley, R-Mo., and Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M. It would expand the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) to include more people who believe that radiation exposure caused their illnesses. Some Republicans have balked estimated fifty-billion-dollar cost. The sponsors of the bill have argued that the government is at fault and should take responsibility.
     Hawley stood outside the Senate before the vote with advocates for the legislation. Several of them have been diagnosed with cancers or have family members who have been diagnosed. He remarked that it’s “hard to look them in the eye” and say they were poisoned by their government, “but we’re not going to be there for you.”
     The bill passed the Senate sixty-nine to thirty with twenty Republicans and forty eight Democrats voting in favor. The prospects of it passing in the House are uncertain.
     Uranium processing in the St. Louis area played a pivotal role in developing the nuclear weapons that helped bring an end to World War II. Nuclear weapons provided a key defense during the Cold War. However, eight decades later, that region is still dealing with radioactive contamination at several sites.
     In July, the Missouri Independent and MuckRock showed that the federal government and companies responsible for nuclear bomb production and atomic waste storage sites in the St. Louis area were aware of health risks, spills, improperly stored contaminants and other problems. However, they often ignored them.
     It is difficult to prove definitively that the radioactive waste caused residents’ illnesses. However, the advocates argue that there is more than enough evidence that it has sickened people in the area.
     Missouri state Rep. Chantelle Nickson-Clark is a Democrat who represents Florissant, an area that sits along the creek that was contaminated by nuclear waste in the 1960s. She said, “I am a two-time breast cancer survivor. I lost my mother to breast cancer, an aunt to breast cancer. Two cousins that are breast cancer survivors, a nephew that had a cancerous brain tumor and other genetic mutation deficiencies in my family. I’m here to represent a community that has been underserved, undervalued, underrepresented and unheard.”
     President Joe Biden signed an executive order in 2022 extending RECA for two years. It is set to expire in June of this year. The new bill would extend the law for five additional years and expand coverage to include people in Missouri as well as Idaho, Montana, Colorado, Tennessee, Kentucky, Alaska and Guam. The White House indicated Wednesday that President Biden would sign the legislation if it reached his desk.
     The White House said in a statement, “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.”
Others organizations worried about the cost. The taxpayer advocacy group Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget said that the legislation should contain budget offsets to pay for it.
     Advocates of the legislation have been fighting for years to expand the program to include more sites in the U.S. In New Mexico, residents in the communities surrounding the area where the first atomic bomb was detonated in 1945 were not warned of the radiological dangers. They did not realize that an atomic blast was the source of the ash that rained down upon them. There were many families who lived off the land, growing crops, raising livestock and getting their drinking water from cisterns.

Please read Part 2 next