Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions
Floor Speech
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Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, I rise to introduce the Enewetak Atoll Cleanup Veterans Registry and Study Act of 2016. I am pleased to be joined by my colleague from Maine, Senator King, in this initiative. Our bill would address an issue important to veterans, including many in Maine, who participated in the Enewetak Atoll radiation cleanup missions from 1977 to 1980. These veterans may now be suffering from adverse health conditions due to exposure to radiation during these missions.
At the end of World War II, Enewetak Atoll came under the control of the United States, which used it to test nuclear bombs. From 1948 to 1958, Enewetak Atoll was the site of 43 U.S. nuclear tests. The combined federal effort to clean up the resulting radioactive waste cost about $100 million over three years and required an on-atoll task force numbering almost 1,000 people.
The veterans who served on the cleanup task force did not ask to be sent to Enewetak Atoll. Like good servicemembers, they received their orders and went to work serving the U.S. government by cleaning up radioactive waste over a 3-year period. I have heard from several Enewetak Atoll veterans who have now developed cancers, and they have expressed their concerns that these cancers may be rooted in their service cleaning up nuclear material.
To address this troubling issue, our bill would help identify and bring together the shared experiences of those who served as a part of the Enewetak Atoll cleanup. It would require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, VA, to establish a registry of U.S. veterans who participated in the cleanup missions of the Enewetak Atoll and who have subsequently experienced health issues. It would also direct the VA to commission an independent study investigating any possible linkage between radiation exposure during the cleanup missions and subsequent health problems among the servicemembers who served or trained there.
Protecting the health of those who have served our nation is a solemn responsibility. This legislation keeps faith with our veterans by demonstrating that our government takes the allegations of service- connected exposure to radiation seriously. We must fulfill our obligations and affirm a larger commitment made long ago to take care of those who have so proudly served our Nation--the patriots who have worn our Nation's uniform.
I ask my colleagues to support this important legislation.
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