ST. LOUIS, Missouri — Advocates who have persistently peppered the federal government with pleas for help cleaning up radioactive chemicals got a welcome sign of potential progress on Tuesday when the top-ranking Biden administration official responsible for the U.S. nuclear arsenal paid a visit to the region.
U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm made public appearances at two events to promote the president's investments in infrastructure and their impact on union jobs or cheaper utility bills. Her private tour of a radioactive chemical dumping ground; however, was not included on her public schedule.
Granholm is the second member of President Biden's cabinet to visit the St. Louis region in two weeks. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg visited a MetroLink station in East St. Louis, Illinois last week to highlight the federal government's investments in upgrading aging, weather-battered infrastructure.
"I hope you're feeling the love, Missouri," Granholm told the crowd at a groundbreaking ceremony in south St. Louis on Tuesday morning.
She said an American "manufacturing renaissance" could help the country compete with Chinese electric vehicle battery manufacturing and curb air pollution.
"We're going to reduce our CO2 emissions," she said.
On her way out, Granholm faced questions from reporters about pollution buried underground.
Could she promise the federal government would take action to clean up nuclear waste from the Manhattan Project?
"There is no doubt that we have to clean up these sites, and there's no doubt that the testing and remediation is ongoing," she responded. "We've got to make sure that people feel safe, and that's why continued transparency, a sense of urgency, and working with the community so that they understand the testing that's being done and the remediation that's being done."
Granholm was asked if she would make time to visit with any of the people who were affected by the federal government's handling of cancer-causing chemicals involved in the making of the atomic bomb.
"I'm hoping to visit, if schedule permitting, one of the sites that we that we have been active on," she said.
"Gee, don’t let the people of St. Louis poisoned by your agency inconvenience you, Madam Secretary," Senator Josh Hawley (R-Missouri) said in a response on social media.
The U.S. Department of Energy took custody of the Weldon Spring Site in 1985. The U.S. Army had previously controlled the property before handing it over to the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission.
TV cameras were not invited when Granholm visited the Weldon Spring Site Interpretative Center, the federal government's dumping grounds where radioactive waste threatens groundwater.
Dawn Chapman, an activist with Just Moms STL, traveled to the site to try and gain an audience with Granholm but said she was turned away.
"We only wanted five minutes of your time," Chapman wrote in an online post. "You speak about trust, but this feels very dismissive of our regional needs!"
"Members of Congress have been trying to get her to meet with us and she refused," Chapman said.
Later that afternoon, after making a stop at the Weldon Spring site, Granholm made a second public stop at a home in north St. Louis and again answered questions from reporters. Her press aides' attempts to limit questions to the topic of winterizing homes were unsuccessful.
"There are a variety of entities in the federal government that are responsible for sites here in the St Louis area, and we want to make sure that we're doing right by people," Granholm said. "And so it was it's important for me to get educated about where what the history is, because I know there is a long history here."
"We met with the folks who work there, and they've been great employees to be able to make sure this site is transparent for the community," she said. "And I know that Congresswoman Bush brought the community with her in her backpack because she had just met with them as well and wanted me to hear from her what the concerns were."
"We're talking about people who are directly impacted, some of whom are sick themselves, some of them who have cancer, or some of them who who have buried friends that have been a part of this advocacy work as well and lost loved ones," U.S. Rep. Cori Bush (D-St. Louis) said.
Hours later, a press release from Bush's office said she met with members of the community on Monday night and relayed their concerns directly to Granholm, though she was reluctant to publicly offer many more details about what they discussed.
"This was the best conversation that I have had on this issue with all of the agencies that I've worked with up to this point in the last two and a half years," Bush said. "We got further in this conversation than we ever had."
"This was my introduction, if you will, to the situation here, which is serious and which the federal government is taking seriously, and is going to continue to take seriously," Granholm said.
Speaking in an optimistic tone, Chapman said she holds out hope that Granholm can still be "a friend" to their cause.
"Obviously we are eager to sit and meet with her," she said. "We would like to reschedule then. We will come to her. We just want to talk to her. She heads the agency that caused all this harm, and she heads the agency that can fix it. I think we have a real chance here."
Granholm said she would consider supporting proposals in Congress to provide federal funding to cover medical expenses for anyone living with a qualified disease linked to toxic chemicals in the affected area.
"It certainly is something worth looking at for sure to bring justice to families that have been affected," she said.