Udall Backs LANL Help
Albuquerque Journal Staff ReportRep. Tom Udall, D-N.M., has introduced legislation making it easier for individuals who worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory after 1976 to receive compensation from work-related illnesses.
In 2007, the federal government established a designation at Los Alamos that made workers who contracted radiogenic cancers automatically eligible to receive compensation.
But Udall's office said Friday the compensation rules imposed on workers who worked at LANL after 1976 require a high burden of proof to demonstrate their illnesses were work related.
Udall's bill would expand the so-called Special Exposure Cohort to include individuals who worked at LANL from 1976 to the present, provided they are diagnosed with the cancers stipulated under the cohort and worked an aggregated total of 250 days at LANL.
The legislation is named in honor of Ray Ruiz, a former state representative who Udall's office said developed and died from cancer as a result of his work for the lab. Ruiz helped establish the first cohort designation.
"This legislation would ensure that these workers who so generously served their country receive a small measure of justice in the form of compensation," Udall said in a news release.
Udall has been in contact with employees who cannot receive compensation because their work at LANL began a few days too late for them to be included in the cohort, according to the statement.
4 comments:
The name Udall has become like poison at LANL after he worked hard to wipe out the LANL budget this last year. It's no wonder that no one seems to bother to leave a post here. However, I will...
Udall is an incompetent dipwad who, if elected as Senator, will bring about nothing but hard times for LANL employees. I highly doubt you'll see any Udall bumper stickers on the cars at LANL during this election season.
Heather Wilson is already using Udall's anti-Lab vote in her campaign ads.
He'll soon be Senator Dipwad, 10:55 AM, if current trends play out.
I fear for the future of LANL once this man takes over St. Pete's position.
Even with Domenici, the lab is headed for self destruction. The rate of decline has only increased with the passing of $$$ Pete $$. The only question that remains in River City is: How soon before it totally falls. (And you don't think theirs STRESS at Los Alamos?)
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