Senators Clinton, Schumer and Representatives Slaughter, Higgins Urge President Bush to Compensate Nuclear Workers

Senators Clinton, Schumer and Representatives Slaughter, Higgins Urge President Bush to Compensate Nuclear Workers

Letter to President Bush Seeks Approval of "Special Cohort" Petition Filed by Bethlehem Steel Workers

Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Charles E. Schumer and Representatives Louise Slaughter and Brian Higgins today wrote to President Bush urging him to approve a special cohort petition recently filed by a group of former Bethlehem Steel workers. Approval of the petition would enable eligible Bethlehem Steel workers to be added to a "special exposure cohort" and receive compensation under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program without going through case-by-case radiation dose estimates.

"The President can right the wrong that has been done to Bethlehem Steel nuclear workers and their families, who have not received the compensation they deserve," said Senator Clinton. "I hope he acts swiftly to bring justice and closure to these Cold War heroes."

"We need to give New York's Cold War heroes the support they need, and their petition for a Special Exposure Cohort will make all the difference in getting them the compensation they rightly deserve," Schumer said. "I have heard heartbreaking stories of friends and loved ones dying of cancers at a young age, and everyone involved is frustrated with this endless process. These former nuclear workers can't wait another minute to find information that could make a difference to their claims."

"The President has the responsibility to see that Bethlehem Steel workers are compensated for the brave and often dangerous work they did for the national security of this country. I urge him to designate Bethlehem Steel with special exposure status without delay," Congresswoman Slaughter said.

"This is a matter of justice for workers who helped win the Cold War and their families. The President has the ability to instruct the Administration to designate the special cohort--he needs to do the right thing and stop delaying," said Rep. Higgins.

Congress passed the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act (EEOICPA) in 2000 to compensate workers who contracted radioactive cancer, beryllium disease or chronic silicosis after working at sites that performed nuclear weapons work during World War II and the Cold War. Under EEOICPA, former nuclear workers or their survivors were eligible to file claims with the US Department of Labor (DOL) for individual payments of $150,000, as well as medical benefits. To file a claim, patients or their surviving families needed to provide proper documentation of their illness and employment history.

Claims are decided by the DOL and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) by using available records about work conditions and employment history. Using these records, NIOSH estimates the radiation doses received by each worker and then determines whether that radiation exposure was likely to have caused the worker's illness. This "dose reconstruction" process has been time-consuming and controversial, particularly at facilities like Bethlehem Steel in Lackawanna, New York, where workers did not wear individual radiation monitors, and there was minimal monitoring of ambient radiation. For Bethlehem Steel workers, compensation decisions have been made using a radiation exposure model that relies on data from another facility-the Simonds Saw facility in Lockport, New York.

Anticipating problems with poor records, EEOICPA also provides a process by which groups of workers can petition the Department of Labor to be designated as members of a "special exposure cohort." Being added to a cohort means that employees do not have to go through a "dose reconstruction" process. Instead, if a person has an eligible cancer and worked at a facility when weapons work was performed, their cancer is presumed to have been caused by workplace exposure and the person's claim is paid. Bethlehem Steel workers recently filed such a petition, which will require approval by several executive branch agencies.

The full text of the letter follows:

March 20, 2006

The Honorable George W. Bush
President of the United States
Washington, D.C. 20500

Dear Mr. President:

We write to ask for your help in delivering long-overdue justice to Western New Yorkers who were on the front lines of the Cold War - the former employees of the Bethlehem Steel plant in Lackawanna, New York

During the early Cold War, the federal government lacked the capacity to manufacture nuclear weapons in federal facilities and turned to the private sector for help. Workers at these private facilities helped to create the huge nuclear arsenal that served as a deterrent to the Soviet Union during the Cold War. However, in the process, they handled dangerous radioactive materials, often without their knowledge or consent. Although government scientists knew of the dangers posed by the radiation, workers were given little or no protection. Many of these workers subsequently contracted cancer, or beryllium disease or chronic silicosis.

In recognition of this injustice to workers and their families, Congress passed the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Act in 2000. The law enabled nuclear workers who contracted radioactive cancer, beryllium disease or chronic silicosis to file a claim with the United States Department of Labor (DOL), and be eligible for a payment of $150,000 and medical benefits. To decide the claims, the law called for a science-based process to use information about worker exposure to radiation to reconstruct worker radiation doses and thereby determine if a claimant's illness was more than likely to have resulted from workplace exposure to radiation. The law also directed the Department of Labor to establish a separate process, known as the "special cohort" process, to decide groups of claims at facilities where a lack of data prevented dose reconstructions from being completed with sufficient accuracy.

At Bethlehem Steel, workers did not wear individual radiation exposure monitors when uranium was processed there. The few ambient air samples from that time period were taken at monitors that were far removed from the rollers where exposure was the greatest. In spite of this nearly complete lack of data about worker exposure at Bethlehem Steel, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has used data from other facilities to reconstruct individual radiation doses for Bethlehem Steel claimants. As a result, many claims have been unfairly denied.

We have stood with the workers and their families throughout this lengthy process, and have called on NIOSH to make the needed corrections. NIOSH concluded its original profile of conditions at the Bethlehem Steel site - the document that is the basis of dose reconstructions -without even interviewing surviving workers. These workers then came forward with information that showed major flaws in the site profile document. NIOSH has subsequently made some improvements as a result, but has refused to accept the fundamental point that we and the workers have repeatedly made: the data needed to accurately reconstruct radiation doses for Bethlehem Steel workers simply does not exist. Given this fact, the law requires that they be given the benefit of the doubt, and placed in a special cohort.

We therefore call on you to direct NIOSH and the DOL to follow the law, and create a special cohort to decide claims filed by Bethlehem Steel workers and their survivors. Bethlehem Steel workers recently submitted a special cohort petition, and it should be processed and approved with urgency. Only speedy approval of a special cohort for the Bethlehem Steel workers can salvage the justice promised to these workers and their families more than six years ago. Your leadership can make the difference for these deserving Cold War heroes, and we urge you to exercise it now.

Thank you for your consideration. We look forward to your reply.

Sincerely,

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