06.14.04

Senate Approves Changes to Compensation Program for Injured Hanford Workers

Cantwell is co-sponsor of successful amendment that should speed up claims

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Senate decided today to charge the Department of Labor (DOL) with the responsibility of overseeing compensation claims for injured Hanford workers, due to the Department of Energy's (DOE) failure to run the program. Cantwell is a co-sponsor of the amendment, which makes changes to the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program (EEOICPA).

The amendment, which was included in the FY 2005 Defense Authorization Bill, passed today by a voice vote. In addition to increasing the DOL's responsibility in handling claims, the amendment creates an ombudsmen program to help injured contract workers find compensation from a ‘willing payer' if their previous employer had gone out of business.

During an energy committee hearing on EEOICPA at the end of March, she called for an end to the "bureaucratic bottlenecks" for ailing "Cold War veterans" waiting for compensation.

Cantwell is a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

Sen. Cantwell's statement delivered on the floor of the Senate today in support of the amendment follows below:

"Mr. President, I rise today as a cosponsor of the Bunning amendment and thank the senator from Kentucky for his hard work both on the energy committee and here on the floor.

"Obviously we're taking a giant step forward in moving major responsibility for the Energy Employee Occupation Illness Compensation Program (EEOICPA) to the Department of Labor. There are thousands of people in Washington state who have been impacted by exposures while working at the Hanford reservation.

"In 2000 when the original act was done, as my colleague from Iowa stated, we set up Specific Exposure Cohorts that allowed workers in particular regions of the country to get compensation and get compensation based on their exposure to beryllium.

"But today there are still thousands of workers who have not had their claims processed. One of the reasons is that specific information doesn't exist or was not kept by the various employers at these reservation sites across the country to show what exposures their employees have endured.

"They have been left to fight their own battles, to fight to get compensation, to fight to prove that they actually had exposure, and to fight to pay their medical bills.

"With thousands of people in Washington state affected by this, I've been a big supporter of moving those responsibilities over to the Department of Labor.

"Besides that, this amendment creates an ombudsman program, somebody who the individual employees can go to ask for help and support while proving their cases.

"It also helps to establish a ‘willing payer.' Some of the companies that have been involved in the cleanup processes throughout the United States no longer exist. We've had employees who wanted to get compensation, have proven their case, only to find that no employer exists. The ombudsmen program helps establish a willing payer.

"But most specific in the positive aspects of this legislation is the step forward on site profiles. Site profiles are specifically the responsibility of the Department of Energy. My colleagues have articulated here on the floor already that many people in their state did not have records kept. They went to the Department of Energy only to find that the records didn't exist for the individual employee. When the Department of Energy does a site profile, they help us then come back and allow a large class of people at the Hanford reservation, and possibly these other sites around the country, to qualify for compensation – and will help expedite that compensation.

"I don't think it's lost on my colleagues that many of these people are dying. Many of these people, by the time that this program was going to get fixed under the DOE, were never going to get the help that they deserve. This amendment takes a very positive step forward by getting the site profiles done, getting the information that's needed to prove that these people have been impacted, that they have had illness due to exposure on the job and that they will now get some help.

"I yield the floor."