RECA Update: Town Hall Scheduled for Oct. 14

The public is invited to attend a town hall forum on how to apply for the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA), which Congress expanded this summer to include four zip codes in St. Charles County.

"We want to make sure that everybody who has been exposed to nuclear radiation because of the government's negligence gets the relief that they deserve," says U.S. Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri, who sponsored the legislation.

The four St. Charles County zip codes covered by the law are:

• 63367 (Lake Saint Louis)
• 63368 (O'Fallon, Dardenne Prairie)
• 63341 (Defiance)
• 63304 (St. Peters, Weldon Spring, Cottleville)

The four zip codes were chosen to cover people who may have lived, worked or gone to school near the EPA Superfund sites in Weldon Spring, where Mallinckrodt Chemical Company refined uranium during the Cold War era. The site was later closed and abandoned for many years, before it was remediated and capped with a mountain of rocks.

The St. Charles County town hall is scheduled to take place 6-8 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 14 at the St. Charles City-County Spencer Road Library Branch (427 Spencer Road in St. Peters).

"This is a federally funded and federally run program," says County Executive Steve Ehlmann. "But our role is also important. The County has some documents needed to prove applicants qualify, documents to show that they lived in the affected zip codes."

St. Charles County Recorder of Deeds Mary Dempsey is scheduled to attend along with St. Charles County Director of Elections Kurt Bahr, State Representatives Tricia Byrnes and Richard West, representatives of Hawley's office and the St. Charles City-County Library District, which is hosting the event.

Under the program, which covers a total of 21 zip codes in the St. Louis region, people can apply for financial compensation from the federal government if they or a relative got cancer after exposure to radiation from the nation's nuclear program.

The public will learn how to establish presence in the affected zip codes, using public documents including marriage records, deeds and voter registration records. The public may enter The Commons through the Boone Hills Drive entrance to avoid taking the stairs or elevator.

The County has also set up a webpage to explain the process.

When the documents you request are ready, you'll get an email, and you can either come pick them up or have them mailed to you.