The Corps of Engineers is seeking permission from St. Louis County to test soil and water at Fort Belle Fontaine Park, a popular spot for hikers with high bluffs and panoramic views. The park sits about 3 miles (5 kilometers) from where the Missouri River flows into the Mississippi River.
Coldwater Creek runs through the park. The notoriously contaminated creek has been a headache for decades, since radioactive waste got into the waterway in the 1950s. Residents who lived along the creek as children in the 1960s and later have blamed illnesses, including rare cancers, on playing in the creek.
“We were never, as kids, supposed to go down there, but of course we did,” said Kim Visintine, a member of the Coldwater Creek Group, which advocates for testing and cleanup.
A division of the Corps of Engineers known as the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program, or FUSRAP, is responsible for cleanup of contamination along the creek. Jon Rankins, senior health physicist for FUSRAP, said the effort at the park is part of a plan to test all properties within the Coldwater Creek floodplain.
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