[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 35 (Thursday, March 1, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Page S2495]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. SALAZAR:
  S. 729. A bill to better provide for compensation for certain persons 
injured in the course of employment at the Rocky Flats site in 
Colorado; to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
  Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. President, I rise today to speak about legislation I 
introduced today. The Rocky Flats Special Exposure Cohort Act will at 
long last repay our debt to the patriotic American workers of Rocky 
Flats, who served our Nation during the Cold War.
  Many Americans contributed to our victory in the Cold War. Brave men 
and women worked in laboratories and factories throughout the Nation, 
fashioning nuclear weapons that led to the fall of the former Soviet 
Union. Unfortunately, many of these Cold War Veterans contracted cancer 
and other disabling and fatal diseases due to their service.
  Before I arrived to Washington, DC, Congress recognized the 
sacrifices made by our nuclear weapons workers by enacting the Energy 
Employees Occupational Injury Compensation Act (EEOICPA) to provide 
benefits to nuclear weapons workers for their work-related illnesses or 
to their survivors when these illnesses took their lives.
  While thousands of workers are successfully applying and receiving 
benefits today, others face incredible obstacles as they try to 
demonstrate that they qualify for benefits. In fact, a combination of 
missing records and bureaucratic red tape has prevented many workers 
from accessing benefits who served at the Rocky Flats facility in 
Colorado.
  Our government failed these workers when they maintained shoddy, 
inaccurate, and incomplete records. Thankfully, Congress had the 
foresight in the Energy Employees Act to realize that some workers 
might not be able to prove that their cancers were caused by their work 
in nuclear weapons facilities, whether due to the lack of records or 
other problems that make it difficult or impossible to determine the 
dose of radiation they received. To protect these workers, Congress 
designated a Special Exposure Cohort to receive benefits if they 
suffered from one of the specified cancers known to be linked to 
radiation exposure.
  Since February 2005, Rocky Flats workers have patiently and 
diligently been making their case to the Federal Government. 
Unfortunately, many of the Rocky Flats workers are running out of time. 
Over the past 2 years, several have passed away without having received 
the healthcare and other benefits that they would have qualified for if 
they were granted an SEC designation.
  Their petition is being reviewed by the Advisory Board on Radiation 
and Worker Health (ABRWH), a body that is stretched thin. In the past, 
I have raised my strong concerns about the several unfilled Advisory 
Board seats. I commend these Americans for having answered the calls of 
their government to serve our country. Like our Cold War Veterans, 
Advisory Board members have sacrificed their time and energy to perform 
an important service. I believe it is the responsibility of this 
Congress to fulfill its duty as well.
  The bill I am introducing today would extend Special Exposure Cohort 
status to workers employed by the Department of Energy or its 
contractors at Rocky Flats according to the stringent requirements of 
the EEOICPA. As a result of this designation, a Rocky Flats worker 
suffering from one of the 22 listed cancers will be able to receive 
benefits despite the inadequate records maintained by the Department of 
Energy and its contractors.
  Through five decades, men and women worked at Rocky Flats, producing 
plutonium, one of the most dangerous substances in creation, and 
crafting it into the triggers for America's nuclear arsenal. These men 
and women served a critical role in a program deemed essential to our 
national security by a succession of Presidents and Congresses. We owe 
them an enormous debt of gratitude.
  My bill is a companion bill to the bipartisan House bill, H.R. 904, 
introduced by my friends, Congressman Mark Udall and Congressman Ed 
Perlmutter from Colorado. I look forward to its bipartisan support in 
the Senate and urge this body to swiftly take up and pass this 
important legislation. In doing so, we will right a wrong and fulfill a 
task that is long overdue.
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