[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 22 (Thursday, February 26, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1693-S1694]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mrs. CLINTON:
  S. 2139. A bill to provide coverage under the Energy Employees 
Occupational Illness Compensation Program for individuals employed at 
atomic weapons employer facilities during periods of residual 
contamination; to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and 
Pensions.
  Mrs. CLINTON. Mr. President, I rise to introduce an important piece 
of legislation to assist our atomic weapons workers. The legislation 
addresses a major flaw in the Energy Employees Occupational Illness 
Compensation Program by expanding eligibility for benefits.
  Under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program 
Act (EEOICPA), workers are eligible for a payment of $150,000 and 
medical coverage for expenses associated with the treatment of diseases 
contracted due to exposure to radiation at atomic weapons plants. 
However, under EEOICPA, workers who became sick from working in 
contaminated atomic weapons plants after weapons production ceased are 
not eligible for benefits.
  In 2003, the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health 
released a Congressionally-mandated report, entitled `` Report on 
Residual Radioactive and Beryllium Contamination in Atomic Weapons 
Employer and Beryllium Vendor Facilities.'' The report concluded that 
``significant'' residual radioactive contamination existed in many of 
these plants for years and decades after weapons production ceased, 
posing a risk of radiation-related cancers or disease to unknowing 
workers.
  In fact, the report found that: 97, 44 percent, of covered facilities 
have potential for significant residual radioactive contamination 
outside of the periods in which atomic weapons-related production 
occurred; 88, 40 percent, of such facilities have little potential for 
significant residual radioactive contamination outside of the periods 
in which atomic weapons-related production occurred; and 34, 16 
percent, of such facilities have insufficient information to make a 
determination.
  In my State of New York, 16 of 31 covered facilities were found to 
have the potential for significant contamination, 10 had little 
potential for significant contamination, and 5 of the 31 had 
insufficient information.
  In other words, more than half of the New York Atomic Weapons 
Employer Facilities in New York were contaminated after weapons 
production ceased. As a result, workers were exposed to radiation, and 
deserve to be eligible for benefits under EEOICPA.
  That is why I am introducing the Residual Radioactive Contamination 
Compensation Act (RRCCA) today. The bill would extend eligibility for 
benefits under EEOICPA to workers who were employed at facilities where 
NIOSH has found potential for significant radioactive contamination.
  In addition to expanding eligibility to workers employed at 
facilities where NIOSH has found potential for significant radioactive 
contamination, the Residual Radioactive Contamination Compensation Act 
would require NIOSH to update the list of such facilities annually. 
This addresses the fact that there was insufficient information for 
NIOSH to characterize a number of sites in its 2003 report.
  I would also like to take the opportunity to draw attention to 
another important issue--the special cohort rule. Under EEOICPA, the 
Department of Health and Human Services was to establish procedures so 
that workers can petition the government to be included in a ``special 
cohort''--meaning that they would be eligible for the program--if their 
radiation doses are difficult to estimate but it is likely that they 
have radiation-caused illnesses. Despite this important mandate, the 
letter notes that ``. . . nearly 39 months after EEOICPA was signed 
into law, the promise of ``timely, uniform and adequate compensation'' 
has not been met.
  As a result, I sent a letter to Secretary Thompson, along with 
Senator Voinovich and 16 of my other Senate colleagues--Senators 
Harkin, Kennedy, Schumer, Murray, DeWine, Alexander, Craig, Bond, and 
Talent, Reid, Grassley, Hollings, Cantwell, Domenici, Campbell, and 
Bingaman. The letter requested that the Secretary immediately put out 
the special cohort rule. I ask unanimous consent that a copy of that 
letter be printed in the Record.
  More than two weeks after the letter was sent, I have still not 
received a response. This is unacceptable. The Administration seems to 
have no sense of urgency in addressing this issue. But each day that 
passes only delays long overdue justice for the Cold War heroes who 
worked in our weapons facilities.
  I ask unanimous consent that the text of the Residual Radioactive 
Contamination Compensation Act be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                                                February 11, 2004.
     Hon. Tommy G. Thompson,
     Secretary, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 200 
         Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC.
       Dear Mr. Secretary: On October 30, 2000, the Energy 
     Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act 
     (EEOICPA) was signed into law (PL 106-386) as part of the FY 
     01 Defense Authorization Act. Enactment of EEOICPA was 
     recognition by Congress and the President that the federal 
     government needed to act quickly to remedy long-standing 
     injustices against atomic weapons program workers. The 
     findings of the Act make the need for the Program abundantly 
     clear, and include the acknowledgment that:
       ``Since the inspection of the nuclear weapons program and 
     for several decades afterwards, a large number of nuclear 
     weapons workers at sites of the Department of Energy and at 
     sites of vendors who supplied the Cold War effort were put at 
     risk without their knowledge and consent for reasons that, 
     documents reveal, were driven by fears of adverse publicity, 
     liability, and employee demands for hazardous duty pay.''
       The Act further states that:
       ``the purpose of the compensation program is to provide for 
     timely, uniform, and adequate compensation of covered 
     employees and, where applicable, survivors of such employees, 
     suffering from illnesses incurred by such employees in the 
     performance of duty for the Department of Energy and certain 
     of its contractors and subcontractors.''
       Yet nearly 39 months after EEOICPA was signed into law, the 
     promise of ``timely, uniform and adequate compensation'' has 
     not been met. We are very concerned about the delay in 
     finalizing the ``special exposure cohort'' petition 
     procedures by the Department of Health and Human Services 
     (HHS) pursuant to 42 USC 7384(q).
       In this regard, EEOICPA specifically provides:
       ``. . . members of a class of employees at a Department of 
     Energy facility, or at an atomic weapons employer facility, 
     may be treated as members of the Special Exposure Cohort for 
     purposes of the compensation program if the President, upon 
     recommendation of the Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker 
     Health, determines that--
       (1) it is not feasible to estimate with sufficient accuracy 
     the radiation dose that the class received; and

[[Page S1694]]

       (2) there is reasonable likelihood that such radiation dose 
     may have endangered the health of members of the class.''
       The law further states that, ``the President shall consider 
     such petitions pursuant to procedures established by the 
     President.''
       Procedures for Designating Classes of Employees as Members 
     of the Special Exposure Cohort were first proposed through a 
     rulemaking, and then subsequently withdrawn in 2002 after 
     uniform criticism. Revised rules were proposed in March of 
     2003, but to date they have not been finalized. Workers have 
     and continue to be blocked from filing petitions to become 
     members of the Special Exposure Cohort because HHS has failed 
     to meet its statutory responsibility to issue these 
     regulations.
       Further delay is denying long-overdue justice for those who 
     were intended to be covered by the special exposure cohort 
     provisions of the Act. After over three years, HHS has had 
     ample time to study this matter, and further delay is simply 
     inexcusable.
       Therefore, we urge you to finalize the special exposure 
     cohort rules and publish them in the Federal Register 
     immediately. Our atomic weapons program workers, who are true 
     Cold War heroes, helped protect our nation and deserve 
     nothing less. We thank you for your prompt attention to this 
     matter.
           Sincerely,
     Members of Congress.
                                  ____


                                S. 2139

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Residual Radioactive 
     Contamination Compensation Act''.

     SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

       Congress finds the following:
       (1) Beginning in the early 1940s, the Department of Energy 
     and its predecessors, the Atomic Energy Commission and the 
     Manhattan Engineering District, relied upon hundreds of 
     private-sector factories and laboratories to develop, test, 
     and produce atomic weapons for use by the military, and these 
     facilities became contaminated with radioactive materials 
     during the process of producing material used for atomic 
     weapons production.
       (2) The Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation 
     Program Act of 2000 (in this section referred to as EEOICPA) 
     provides health care and lump-sum benefits for radiation-
     related cancers and other illnesses to certain covered 
     workers made sick while they toiled in the nation's nuclear 
     weapons factories, including vendor facilities. EEOICPA 
     defines these private-sector vendor facilities as atomic 
     weapons employer facilities, and employees working in such 
     facilities while their employers were under contract to 
     process nuclear weapons materials are defined as atomic 
     weapons employees.
       (3) Many of the atomic weapons employer facilities were not 
     properly decontaminated after processing radioactive 
     materials such as thorium, uranium, and radium and retained 
     significant levels of contamination. Workers who were hired 
     and employed in such atomic weapons employer facilities after 
     the date that contracts were ended for production were 
     potentially exposed to significant amounts of radiation. 
     Congress was not aware of the presence of residual 
     radioactive contamination in these facilities when it enacted 
     EEOICPA, thus inadvertently denying coverage under the law to 
     those who were unwittingly exposed to radiation left over 
     from nuclear weapons activities.
       (4) In December 2001, the National Defense Authorization 
     Act for Fiscal Year 2002 (Public Law 107-107) was enacted, 
     which required in section 3151(b) that the National Institute 
     for Occupational Safety and Health study and issue a final 
     report to Congress by December 2002 describing which of the 
     atomic weapons employer facilities had significant residual 
     radioactive contamination remaining in them after processing 
     materials for use in atomic weapons and during what time 
     periods such radioactive contamination remained.
       (5) In October 2003, the Institute issued a report, titled 
     Report on Residual Radioactive and Beryllium Contamination in 
     Atomic Weapons Employer and Beryllium Vendor Facilities. The 
     report found that, out of 219 atomic weapons employer 
     facilities--
       (A) 97 (44 percent) of such facilities have potential for 
     significant residual radioactive contamination outside of the 
     periods in which atomic weapons-related production occurred;
        (B) 88 (40 percent) of such facilities have little 
     potential for significant residual radioactive contamination 
     outside of the periods in which atomic weapons-related 
     production occurred; and
       (C) 34 (16 percent) of such facilities have insufficient 
     information to make a determination.
       (6) Congress is now aware that workers were employed in a 
     substantial number of atomic weapons employer facilities 
     years after the Manhattan Project ended. These workers were 
     potentially harmed by legacy residual radioactive 
     contamination that permeated the walls, the floors, and the 
     air of their worksites well after the Atomic Energy 
     Commission and the Department of Energy terminated contracts 
     for production activities. This exposure to residual 
     radioactive contamination took place without the knowledge or 
     consent of these workers.
       (7) Congress therefore declares that, based on the 
     scientific assessment by the Institute, those workers hired 
     and employed in such facilities during the period after Cold 
     War production stopped but during which the Institute found 
     there was significant residual radioactive contamination 
     should be defined as atomic weapons employees under EEOICPA, 
     should be eligible to apply for compensation under subtitle B 
     of EEOICPA, and should have their claims evaluated on the 
     same basis as those atomic weapons employees who were 
     employed during the period when processing of radioactive 
     materials was underway as part of the atomic weapons program.

     SEC. 3. COVERAGE UNDER ENERGY EMPLOYEES OCCUPATIONAL ILLNESS 
                   COMPENSATION PROGRAM OF INDIVIDUALS EMPLOYED AT 
                   ATOMIC WEAPONS EMPLOYER FACILITIES DURING 
                   PERIODS OF RESIDUAL CONTAMINATION

       Paragraph (3) of section 3621 of the Energy Employees 
     Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000 (42 
     U.S.C. 7384l) is amended to read as follows:
       (3) The term atomic weapons employee means any of the 
     following:
        (A) An individual employed at an atomic weapons employer 
     facility during a period when the employer was processing or 
     producing, for the use by the United States, material that 
     emitted radiation and was used in the production of an atomic 
     weapon, excluding uranium mining and milling.
       (B) An individual employed--
       (i) at an atomic weapons employer facility with respect to 
     which the National Institute for Occupational Safety and 
     Health, in its report dated October 2003 and titled Report on 
     Residual Radioactive and Beryllium Contamination at Atomic 
     Weapons Employer Facilities and Beryllium Vendor Facilities, 
     or any update to that report, found that there is a potential 
     (not including a case in which the Institute found that there 
     is little potential) for significant residual contamination 
     outside of the period in which weapons-related production 
     occurred; and
       (ii) during a period, as specified in such report or any 
     update to such report, of significant residual contamination 
     at that facility.

     SEC. 4. UPDATE TO REPORT

       In each of 2005, 2006, and 2007, the Director of the 
     National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health shall 
     submit to Congress, not later than December 31 of that year, 
     an update to the report required by section 3151(b) of the 
     National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2002 
     (Public Law 107-107; 42 U.S.C. 7384 note). Each such update 
     shall--
       (1) for each facility for which such report, or any update 
     to such report, found that insufficient information was 
     available to determine whether significant residual 
     contamination was present, determine whether significant 
     residual contamination was present;
       (2) for each facility for which such report, or any update 
     to such report, found that significant residual contamination 
     remained present as of the date of the report, determine the 
     date on which such contamination ceased to be present;
       (3) for each facility for which such report, or any update 
     to such report, found that significant residual contamination 
     was present but for which the Director has been unable to 
     determine the extent to which such contamination is 
     attributable to beryllium or atomic weapons-related 
     activities, identify the specific dates of coverage 
     attributable to such activities and, in so identifying, 
     presume that such contamination is attributable to such 
     activities until there is evidence of decontamination of 
     residual contamination identified with beryllium or atomic 
     weapons-related activities; and
       (4) if new information that pertains to the report has been 
     made available to the Director since that report was 
     submitted, identify and describe such information.

     SEC. 5. PUBLICATION IN FEDERAL REGISTER

       The Director shall ensure that the report referred to in 
     section 4, and each update required by section 4, are 
     published in the Federal Register not later than 15 days 
     after being released.
                                 ______