$1 billion DOE nuclear weapons worker compensation approved by U.S. Senate

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$1 billion OK'd for ill nuclear weapons workers 
6/9/2000 Nashville Tennessean<A 
HREF="http://www.tennessean.com/sii/00/06/09/nuclear09.shtml";>
http://www.tennessean.com/sii/00/06/09/nuclear09.shtml</A>

By Susan Thomas / Staff Writer 
Groundbreaking legislation to provide financial compensation and medical care 
to workers made sick building the nation's Cold War arsenal of nuclear 
weapons was unanimously adopted by the U.S. Senate yesterday.

The Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Act, estimated to cost 
$1 billion over 10 years, was attached by unanimous Senate consent as an 
amendment to a defense authorization bill that is expected to be approved 
today. It must then be approved by the U.S. House of Representatives and 
signed by the president before becoming law.

U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson, R-Tenn., sponsored the legislation, citing his 
concern over the plight of workers at the Oak Ridge nuclear reservation who 
are suffering from a pattern of often unexplained illnesses ranging from 
memory loss and rashes to chronic respiratory diseases and cancer.

"The Senate's action is an important first step toward remedying a grave 
injustice," said Thompson, whose bill was co-sponsored by a bipartisan group 
of 13 other senators. "Workers at Oak Ridge and across the country who served 
our nation during the Cold War have suffered through an extraordinary set of 
circumstances and have waited too long for the federal government to address 
their grievances.

"We have an obligation to help them."

Workers from at least 32 nuclear weapons complexes nationwide would be 
entitled to compensation and medical care under the Senate bill.

Over the past three and a half years, The Tennessean interviewed more than 
400 people with unexplained illnesses, including both workers and neighbors 
at 13 nuclear weapons sites.

The legislation would help only workers and former workers, but not sick 
people living near the sites who fear their illnesses stem from toxic 
substances leaking into their neighborhoods.

Reaction to the proposed legislation was swift and strong.

Some described it as "historic" and "a huge breakthrough," while others 
expressed a wait-and-see attitude because of years of mistrust between the 
workers and the Department of Energy, which oversees the nation's nuclear 
weapons sites.

"The compensation packages for some of the workers look pretty good, but I'm 
very concerned that all of the ill workers would not be treated the same 
under the legislation," said Janet Michel, a disabled Oak Ridge worker.

"I guess we'll just have to keep pushing, especially our state delegation in 
the House of Representatives, to make sure everyone is treated equally and 
gets the help they deserve."

The legislation offers help to three groups of workers. They include those 
with:

Specific respiratory ailments. Two illnesses -- berylliosis and silicosis -- 
are automatically assumed to be work-related if an employee worked at a 
weapons facility where exposure was likely. These workers would receive free 
medical care, as well as a choice between a lump-sum payment of $200,000 and 
lost wages compensation.

Radiation exposures. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will 
develop a process to determine whether a wide range of cancers included in 
the amendment are "as likely as not" to be work-related. Workers for whom 
such a determination is made will also receive free medical care and the 
choice between the $200,000 payment and wage compensation.

In addition, workers from three nuclear fuel plants -- Oak Ridge, Portsmouth, 
Ohio, and Paducah, Ky., where for various reasons exposures cannot be 
estimated with a sufficient degree of accuracy -- will be eligible for the 
same compensation if they worked in areas where radiation exposure was likely 
and suffer from one of the specified cancers.

Other toxic substances. An independent HHS panel will review the cases of 
workers exposed to toxic chemicals, including heavy metals, that are not 
unique to DOE weapons facilities. If it is found that the worker was "as 
likely as not" exposed at a DOE workplace, a newly established DOE Office of 
Workers' Compensation will assist the worker in filing a claim under that 
state's workers' compensation system. By law, DOE would not be allowed to 
fight the claim and would instruct any DOE contractors not to fight the 
claim. Payment under the states' compensation plans would be paid by federal 
funds.

The proposed legislation would end a decades-long stance by DOE to fight 
medical claims in court, a practice caught in the wind of change since early 
this year when the Clinton administration accepted responsibility for 
potentially harming countless unknowing nuclear weapons workers during the 
decades of the Cold War.

"With the adoption of this worker compensation amendment, the Senate 
furthered efforts to right the wrongs of the Cold War," Energy Secretary Bill 
Richardson said yesterday, praising the Thompson bill.

"This is a historic opportunity for Congress to do the right thing and act 
quickly on the proposal that this administration initiated last year. I look 
forward to continued cooperation with members of the House of Representatives 
over the next several weeks to help the thousands of brave men and women 
whose work for this country's defense has left them sick or dying and put 
their families' life savings at stake.

"These people deserve nothing less."

Richard Miller, policy analyst for the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and 
Energy Workers Union, largely applauded the legislation.

"Because of ... years of investigative reporting by The Tennessean, national 
attention has focused on a group of Cold War veterans who had been left out 
in the cold. As such, Congress was educated about the pain and anguish 
suffered by hundreds of loyal Americans who served their government, got sick 
in the course of performing their jobs and were callously neglected and kept 
in the dark. This is a huge breakthrough." 

==================================
<A HREF="http://www.dispatch.com/news/newsfea00/jun00/308137.html";>http://www.
dispatch.com/news/newsfea00/jun00/308137.html</A>
Piketon workers aid OK'd by Senate

June 9, 2000

Jonathan Riskind
Dispatch Washington Bureau 

WASHINGTON -- Piketon uranium-enrichment plant employees harmed by deadly 
radiation in their workplace could get as much as $200,000 plus health 
benefits for life under a landmark deal approved yesterday by the U.S. 
Senate. 

Under provisions of the agreement, hundreds of current and former workers at 
the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant -- and hundreds more at other nuclear 
facilities nationwide -- would be compensated for exposure to hazardous 
materials during the Cold War. 

The deal was added -- without a separate vote -- to a defense authorization 
bill whose passage is considered a virtual certainty. Proponents of the 
compensation package are cautiously optimistic that it will remain intact 
when the bill emerges from a conference committee that will work out 
differences between the House and Senate versions. 

Sen. George V. Voinovich, R-Ohio, warned that final victory is not 
guaranteed. House members now must be persuaded that aiding "civilian victims 
of the Cold War'' is a federal priority and responsibility. 

"We're talking about people who have lost their lives, people who are 
seriously ill, who have been treated in a way you would not want anyone to be 
treated,'' he said. "We finally have admitted we (the U.S. government) were 
derelict. This program and the funding of it should take the highest 
priority.'' 

There is no cost estimate for the plan. A less-ambitious Clinton 
administration proposal carried a $500 million price tag and would have 
affected an estimated 3,000 people. 

Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson has acknowledged that nuclear workers at 
Energy Department sites nationwide toiled under dangerous conditions that 
exposed them to uranium, plutonium and a host of other materials that led to 
illnesses such as cancer. 

The Piketon plants for decades was among the sites singled out as places with 
inadequate worker protection. 

Voinovich, who crafted a more- expansive compensation proposal, was one of 
the main architects of yesterday's compromise. Getting it into a defense bill 
was crucial. In an election year, though not much is likely to get through 
Congress, such a bill is almost sure to pass. 

Richardson urged Congress to quickly pass legislation that can be sent to the 
president. 

"With the adoption of this workers' compensation amendment, the Senate today 
furthered efforts to right the wrongs of the Cold War and get sick workers 
and their survivors the help they have long deserved,'' he said. 

While lauding Voinovich and others who backed the bill, including Sen. Mike 
DeWine, R-Ohio, worker advocates called the legislation an inadequate 
compromise. 

Although the measure would provide federal payments for workers exposed to 
radiation and beryllium, a toxic material used in some stages of nuclear 
production, those exposed to other harmful chemicals are relegated to 
requesting state workers' compensation benefits. Advocates question whether 
the state system can handle claims that are sometimes decades old and related 
to nuclear-site exposures that often are not well-documented. 

"To say this is a comprehensive remedy is to perpetrate a cruel hoax,'' said 
Richard Miller, an attorney for the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and 
Energy Workers International Union, which represents workers at the Piketon 
plant. 

"For those people who do not fall within a beryllium or radiation category, 
those people will be routed down a blind alley.'' 

Herman Potter, a Piketon plant operator for 12 years who is serving as a 
union safety coordinator, said there is a "bittersweet attitude toward this'' 
because workers believe chemical exposures were more prevalent but less 
well-documented than radiation exposures. 

They also are skeptical about whether adequate compensation can be found in 
state systems. 

"There is a fear this has not gone far enough,'' Potter said. 

At the same time, Miller noted that without the efforts of Voinovich, DeWine 
and others -- including Sens. Edward M. Kennedy, D- Mass., and Fred Thompson, 
R-Tenn. -- the plan would not have been included in the bill at all. 

That might have killed chances to pass the compensation proposal this year 
because the House had not included the plan in its version of the defense 
authorization bill. The legislation covers only Energy Department workers, 
not Defense Department employees, but attaching the proposal to the defense 
authorization bill is considered the legislation's best shot this year. 

Voinovich, who wrote the legislation introduced last month in the Senate, 
favored federal compensation for chemical exposures as well. But some Clinton 
administration officials and lawmakers thought that would open a Pandora's 
box of compensation and wanted a more narrowly crafted bill. 

The Clinton administration in April introduced a bill that granted $100,000 
payments or health benefits and excluded chemical exposures from federal 
compensation. 

But Voinovich, DeWine and several other allies in both parties doubled the 
maximum payments for radiation and beryllium exposure. 

DeWine said that although the proposal does not go as far as he and Voinovich 
wanted, the legislation approved yesterday "is a fair and reasonable 
compromise.'' 

Once the bill reaches a conference committee, proponents hope to stage one 
last fight to win federal compensation for chemical exposures. 

But they also worry that it might be tough just to hold on to what they have 
because some budget- conscious House members might want to cut compensation 
to radiation victims. 

Rep. Ted Strickland, D-Lucasville, whose district includes the Piketon plant, 
said several House members with Energy Department nuclear sites in their 
districts are lobbying to include the compensation proposal in the final 
version. 

A Dispatch investigation of past conditions at the Piketon plant revealed 
that many workers were exposed to radiation, harmful chemicals and toxic 
materials ranging from asbestos to mercury to fluorides. A recent Energy 
Department report confirmed those findings. 

The Piketon plant no longer produces weapons-grade uranium. Now run by a 
privatized federal corporation called USEC, it produces commercial-grade 
uranium for nuclear-power-plant fuel. 
==================================
 <A HREF="http://www.toledoblade.com/editorial/beryllium/0f09bery.htm";>http://
www.toledoblade.com/editorial/beryllium/0f09bery.htm</A>

 Beryllium aid package gets boost 
 
 June 9, 2000
 
 BY SAM ROE
 BLADE SENIOR WRITER 
 
 The U.S. Senate yesterday took a big step toward helping scores of injured 
beryllium workers in the Toledo area and nationwide.
 
 Legislation to compensate victims was attached to the defense authorization 
bill in the Senate, increasing the likelihood that some kind of benefit plan 
will become law.
 
 "We've crossed a major hurdle," said Ohio Sen. George Voinovich, who has 
been pushing for victim compensation.
 
 Richard Miller, a union policy analyst in Washington, agreed: "There has 
never been a year in which the defense authorization bill has not been signed 
by the president. So [the compensation plan] is attached to a bill that has a 
very high probability of being signed.''
 
 But he said that the nation's leading beryllium producer, Brush Wellman, 
Inc., which operates a plant near Elmore, vigorously fought the compensation 
plan in recent days.
 
 "The most difficult struggle in securing justice for beryllium workers was 
the fight that Brush Wellman put up to cut off their rights to ever have a 
day in court,'' said Mr. Miller of the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical & 
Energy Workers International Union.
 
 He said Brush Wellman used "aggressive lobbying tactics" in an effort to get 
language in the compensation plan that would bar workers from suing the 
company. Brush has been approaching senators sympathetic to its views, he 
said, and "basically using the power that their friendly senators have to try 
to leverage their position in the negotiations, and they are quite savvy at 
doing this.''
 
 But the effort failed, Mr. Miller said. The compensation program gives 
workers the choice of accepting compensation or suing. But workers would have 
less time to decide whether to sue.
 
 At least 75 current or former workers of Brush Wellman's Elmore plant have 
contracted beryllium disease, an often-fatal lung illness caused by the 
metal's toxic dust. The metal has long been used in nuclear bombs and other 
weapons.
 
 In a written statement, Brush Wellman attorney Thomas Clare said the company 
supports legislation to compensate victims.
 
 He added: "Brush Wellman believes that the limited public and private 
resources should be focused on worker benefits and further research into 
prevention and treatment of the disease - and not diverted and diffused 
through the litigation process to become a source of revenue for lawyers.''
 
 The beryllium company, he wrote, "always has acted appropriately and 
forthrightly in availing itself of the political process on these issues, and 
any assertion to the contrary (or suggestion that the company engaged in 
'aggressive' lobbying techniques or improper political maneuvering) is just 
plain wrong.''
 
 Last month, Senator Voinovich introduced a bill to compensate beryllium 
victims. Voinovich spokesman Mike Dawson said the Senate plan as it stands 
now would cover Brush Wellman workers who have beryllium disease. They would 
receive medical benefits and their choice of lost wages or a one-time payment 
of $200,000.
 
 Also covered: nuclear plant workers harmed by exposure to radiation and 
silica. Families of deceased victims would be covered as well.
 
 The House version of the defense bill does not include the compensation 
program, whose fate congressional negotiators would have to decide. Also, 
lawmakers have not set aside any money for the program, which could run into 
the hundreds of millions of dollars.
 
 "Frankly,'' Senator Voinovich said, "if this thing becomes law I will put it 
down on my list of one of the most important pieces of legislation that I had 
anything to do with.''
 
 Added Energy Secretary Bill Richardson: "The Senate today furthered efforts 
to right the wrongs of the Cold War and get sick workers and their survivors 
the help they have long deserved."
 
 But U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur, a Democrat from Toledo, said the Senate plan 
falls short because it focuses only on workers associated with Energy 
Department facilities. She said Defense Department contract workers should be 
covered, as well as everyone harmed by Brush's Elmore plant.
 
 "Anybody who worked in or near that plant who dealt with beryllium and got 
sick has a right to coverage,'' she said. She added that she thinks Brush 
workers could benefit from union representation on such issues. "One of the 
reasons that the Brush Wellman workers at Elmore are shortchanged is because 
they don't have a union.''
 
 The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

 ======================================================== 

Bill Summary & Status for the 106th Congress
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S.AMDT.3250 
Amends: S.2549 
Sponsor: Sen Thompson, Fred (submitted 6/8/2000) (proposed 6/8/2000) 
AMENDMENT PURPOSE:  
To provide compensation and benefits to Department of Energy employees and 
contractor employees for exposure to beryllium, radiation, and other toxic 
substances. 

STATUS:
6/8/2000:
Amendment SA 3250 proposed by Senator Warner for Senator Thompson. 
6/8/2000:
Amendment SA 3250 agreed to in Senate by Voice Vote. 
COSPONSORS(13):
Sen Bingaman, Jeff - 6/8/2000 
Sen Voinovich, George V. - 6/8/2000 
Sen Kennedy, Edward M. - 6/8/2000 
Sen DeWine, Michael - 6/8/2000 
Sen Reid, Harry M. - 6/8/2000 
Sen Thurmond, Strom - 6/8/2000 
Sen Bryan, Richard H. - 6/8/2000 
Sen Frist, Bill - 6/8/2000 
Sen Murray, Patty - 6/8/2000 
Sen Murkowski, Frank H. - 6/8/2000 
Sen Harkin, Tom - 6/8/2000 
Sen Hollings, Ernest F. - 6/8/2000 
Sen Stevens, Ted - 6/8/2000
Warner (for Thompson) Amendment No. 3250, to provide compensation and 
benefits to Department of Energy employees and contractor employees for 
exposure to beryllium, radiation, and other toxic substances.  

Note: The Amendment and its adoption may be found on Congressional Record 
pages S4749-60, not yet posted on the web today).

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