{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.hawley.senate.gov/hawley-demands-doe-improve-nuclear-contamination-cleanup-efforts-weldon-spring-site/", "Hawley Demands DOE Improve Nuclear Contamination Cleanup Efforts at Weldon Spring Site", "2023-07-24", "2023", "2023-07", "Republican", "Senate", "MO", "Josh Hawley", "H001089", "www.hawley.senate.gov", "hawley", "https://www.hawley.senate.gov/press-releases/page/", "scraper", "Today U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) sent a letter to Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Jennifer Granholm, urging the Department conduct additional testing for radioactive contamination at a site in St. Charles County, Mo. After a review of the Weldon Spring site in 2021, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources offered an extensive critique of the DOE\u2019s cleanup and monitoring efforts at that location. These concerns were recently made public.\n\n\u201cOn May 27, 2021, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources submitted extensive comments on the Department\u2019s Weldon Spring Site Draft Sixth Five-Year Review,\u201d wrote Senator Hawley. \u201cThat review [\u2026] aimed to analyze the state of contamination at the Weldon Spring site. In those comments, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources identified serious sampling deficiencies in the Department\u2019s remediation plan.\u201d\n\nHe continued, \u201cDOE must immediately take steps to conduct additional sampling in this area, including through the establishment of additional monitoring sites, pursuant to the detailed request provided by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.\u201d\n\nRead the full letter here or below.\n\nJuly 24, 2023\n\nThe Honorable Jennifer Granholm\n\nSecretary\n\nU.S. Department of Energy\n\n1000 Independence Ave, S.W.\n\nWashington, D.C. 20585\n\nSecretary Granholm:\n\nThe residents of my state are suffering from ongoing radioactive contamination. That contamination was caused by the government\u2019s Manhattan Project efforts, and it has never been properly cleaned up. Instead of active remedies, the government now relies on a strategy of \u201cmonitored natural attenuation\u201d\u2014essentially, hoping the problem corrects itself.\n\nWe know now that current measures are not enough. And your Department has been aware of the problem for years. On May 27, 2021, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources submitted extensive comments on the Department\u2019s Weldon Spring Site Draft Sixth Five-Year Review. That review\u2014which was prescribed by Section 121 of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), as amended by the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986\u2014aimed to analyze the state of contamination at the Weldon Spring site.\n\nIn those comments, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources identified serious sampling deficiencies in the Department\u2019s remediation plan. Among them:\n\nThe unweathered zone for uranium, northwest of monitoring well 4043, was insufficiently defined. An additional Burlington-Keokuk monitoring well should be placed in this region, with its location determined by a geophysical survey using electrical resistivity tomography and multichannel analysis of surface waves.\n\nThe sampling of the Burlington-Keokuk Limestone bedrock was insufficient. Additional sampling locations are required to properly account for vertical and lateral contaminant distribution.\n\nInsufficient monitoring sites were present within the monitoring well network in the area of the Chemical Plant.\n\nThe sampling of uranium content in the Femme Osage Slough was based on 1997 data, not current data. As a result, stakeholders have no way of knowing whether radiation levels in this area remain within acceptable parameters.\n\nExisting monitoring wells were not sampling at the same depth level\u2014one well was monitoring 47-52 feet below ground level, while others were monitoring at 77-97 and 95-105 feet below ground level. Accordingly, more monitoring wells are needed to ensure consistency.\n\nDOE must immediately take steps to conduct additional sampling in this area, including through the establishment of additional monitoring sites, pursuant to the detailed request provided by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. Additionally, please provide the following information by August 15, 2023.\n\nSince 2021, has DOE taken any steps to revise its remediation strategy for the Weldon Spring site in light of these comments from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources?\n\nPlease provide an estimate of the projected cost of expanding sampling measures consistent with the recommendations of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.\n\nThank you for your immediate attention to this matter. The residents of St. Louis and its surrounding communities deserve justice.\n\nSincerely,", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T18:25:20Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.hawley.senate.gov/hawley-demands-doe-improve-nuclear-contamination-cleanup-efforts-weldon-spring-site/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.5216940082609653, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}