[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 22 (Thursday, February 26, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E258-E259]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       INTRODUCTION OF THE RESIDUAL RADIOACTIVE CONTAMINATION ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                     HON. LOUISE McINTOSH SLAUGHTER

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, February 26, 2004

  Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I rise to introduce important legislation 
that seeks to undo--in some small measure--an injustice done to 
thousands of American workers in the years following the Manhattan 
Project.
  Beginning in the 1940s, throughout the United States, the government 
secretly contracted with hundreds of private-sector factories and 
laboratories to develop, test, and produce atomic weapons. For well 
over a decade, many of these facilities processed enormous amounts of 
radioactive materials such as thorium, uranium and radium. Yet, when 
the government contracts expired in the 1950s, few of these facilities 
were properly decontaminated.
  In 2000, Congress saw fit to establish a reparations program for 
workers who developed diseases because of their work on our nation's 
atomic weapons program. Under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness 
Compensation Program Act (EEOICPA), workers could receive a one-time 
payment of $150,000 and medical coverage for expenses associated with 
the treatment of diseases contracted due to this exposure. One major 
shortcoming of the program is its failure to compensate individuals 
made sick from their work in former atomic weapons plants--where the 
walls and floors were permeated with radioactive residue--for decades 
following the end of Cold War era production.
  In fact, the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health 
released a report in the fall that found ``significant'' residual 
radioactive contamination existed in many of the former contractor 
sites well into the 1970s, 80s and beyond. Today, we see the legacy of 
this failure to properly decontaminate. Employees who, unbeknownst to 
them, worked in facilities with significant residual contamination, 
have contracted or succumbed to radiation-related cancers or disease.
  The enactment of the EEOICPA was recognition that the federal 
government bore a responsibility to workers who were made sick and even 
died because of the work they did on the nation's atomic program. It is 
long since past the time for our government to take responsibility for 
its role in allowing these Cold War era facilities to remain 
dangerously contaminated and place workers needlessly at risk.
  Mr. Speaker, the bill I am introducing today with my colleague, Mr. 
Quinn, the Residual Radioactive Contamination Compensation Act (RRCCA), 
would extend eligibility for the EEOICP to workers who were employed at 
facilities where NIOSH has found potential for significant radioactive 
contamination. For instance, of the fourteen facilities in and around

[[Page E259]]

my congressional district, NIOSH found that five of the sites had 
potential for significant contamination well into the 1990s and beyond. 
At the same time, NIOSH reported that it could not make a determination 
at three of the sites without additional information. For this reason, 
the bill I am introducing would require NIOSH to update its report on 
an annual basis to include new information when it becomes available.

  Mr. Speaker, the RRCCA seeks to open the door of eligibility for 
valid claims. At the same time, passage of this bill will mean very 
little if the chronic problems that have plagued this program are not 
addressed. As you may know, the implementation of this important 
program has been plagued by bureaucratic red tape. For far too many 
claimants, it's a waiting game. I know of dozens of constituents whose 
work and health history leave no doubt about eligibility but are still 
waiting to have their records reviewed. In those rare instances where 
the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has 
managed to evaluate claims, the approval rate has been abysmal.
  Moreover, the Department of Health and Human Services has failed to 
issue one of the key regulations required by the law nearly 3\1/2\ 
years since the law was signed. The ``Special Exposure Cohort'' 
regulation is needed to address situations where the records needed to 
estimate radiation dose are not available, where the workers were not 
monitored, or the monitoring data is unreliable or altered. We note, 
for example, that NIOSH was unable to produce individual monitoring 
records for workers at Bethlehem Steel plant in Lackawanna, New York, 
where uranium billets were rolled into rods used as fuel in the 
government's plutonium reactors during the years 1949-1952. Just this 
week, a group of 25 Bethlehem Steel workers boarded a bus for 
Cleveland, to stage a protest outside of the Northeast Regional 
Headquarters of the program. These workers and others have been denied 
the right to petition for eligibility in the Special Exposure Cohort 
because the Department of Health and Human Services has failed to issue 
its regulations in a timely manner. Further delay is simply 
inexcusable.
  As I have said, over and over again, this is an aging and ill 
population. Time is of the essence. Congress must act to ensure that 
the Energy Employee Occupational Illness Compensation Program is 
properly administered.
  Mr. Speaker, I look forward to working with my colleagues to pass the 
Residual Radioactive Contamination Compensation Act to help our 
constituents.

                          ____________________