As mentioned in Saturday's article, Senator Mark Udall is drafting reform legislation for EEOICPA. The highlights are on the left column of today's article. In order to get this legislation out of the committee, legislative hearings will need to be held.
As soon as a bill number is assigned to this legislation, I will send you and others information on how you can help get the hearings.
Thanks,
Terrie Barrie
CWP
tbarrie@yahoo.com
Terrie,
The Senate is indeed paying attention. They visited the blog this morning to read about last week's news of the beryllium exposures at LANL's TA-41. The notion that these worker safety issues are relics of an era when we didn't know any better is now thoroughly dispelled. Thanks and keep up the good work!
Frank
Nuke worker bill picking up support
Legislation seeks justice for victims of weapons race
By Laura Frank, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)Published February 3, 2009 at 10:26 a.m.
KBDI's Tamara Banks hosted a Live show featuring The Rocky Mountain News Deadly Denial series, which included Former Rocky Flats Projects Manager, Charlie Wolf, left, and Rocky Mountain News reporter, Laura Frank, at right, on Wednesday, July 30, 2008.
The legislation, proposed by Sen. Mark Udall, would revamp the troubled federal compensation program for ailing nuclear weapons workers. Among the proposed highlights:
Establish a board to oversee implementation of the program and strengthen the ombudsman's role.
Add cost-of-living increases for delayed compensation payments.
Add more radiation-linked cancers to the list of those covered in the program.
Require automatic entry into the streamlined process for aid, called the "special exposure cohort," if exposure records are not found and analyzed within 180 days.
Order a review of all program regulations and of the scientific models used to estimate radiation doses.
-Laura Frank
After his brother's funeral Saturday, Rick Wolf started talking with a couple he'd never met.
He recounted how difficult it had been for Charlie Wolf to prove he deserved federal compensation for the brain cancer that the government eventually admitted was linked to work at U.S. nuclear weapons sites.
Charlie Wolf had become something of a celebrity as he battled brain cancer and the federal government to the very end of his life, determined to prove that he and other sick nuclear weapons workers were being denied aid that was promised them. His story was chronicled last July in a Rocky Mountain News special report, "Deadly Denial."
Nearly 200 people attended Wolf's funeral Saturday — some of them folks who knew the Highlands Ranch man only through newspaper stories. At the service they celebrated the news that U.S. Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo., plans to introduce the Charlie Wolf Act to reform the compensation program.
Beginning Wednesday, members of the state's congressional delegation will begin outlining legislation to improve the federal nucelar weapons workers compensation program.
And the delegation is not stopping there.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, has asked Udall to work together on the legislation.
Top Senate Republicans are in the loop.
Tennessee Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander is one of those lawmakers. Alexander has twice co-sponsored legislation to improve the aid initiative, called the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program.
Alexander will study Udall's legislation as he continues working with senators from both parties to improve the program, an Alexander aide said Monday.
The new legislation is expected to pick up where reform bills in both the House and Senate left off last session.
Those who have followed the plight of Wolf and other nuclear weapons workers and survivors have high hopes for the legislation.
That includes the couple who spoke with Charlie Wolf's brother at Wolf's funeral.
"You know," Melinda Lorenz said to Rick Wolf, "we had no connection to Charlie before today."
Lorenz and John Coles of Denver went to Wolf's memorial service after reading in the newspaper that morning about his life and the legislation named in his honor.
"I read the article and said we need to be there," Coles said. "It's important to support the years of service that people like Charlie Wolf have done. They were on the front lines of the Cold War."
Rick Wolf said he was touched by their gesture.
"It's an honor to be here," Coles responded. "And we'd like to be there for the celebration when the act is signed into law by the president."
ON BOARD
On Wednesday, Colorado's congressional delegation will begin outlining reforms it wants in the compensation program for sick nuclear weapons workers from Rocky Flats, near Denver, and across the nation. Here is what some lawmakers — both new and old, Democrat and Republican — said about the work:
"I've been working with Sen. Udall since I took office to help make sure these workers receive the justice to which they are entitled. These individuals provided a valuable service to our nation, and they should receive the proper health care and benefits related to their service to our country. "
Rep. Ed Perlmutter, D-Golden
"Under Sen. Udall's leadership, much progress has been made in cleaning up Rocky Flats and caring for its workers, but much work remains. I look forward to picking up where he left off and plan on introducing similar legislation in the House that will bring much-needed relief and compensation to these brave men and women who have suffered so much in service to their country."
Rep. Jared Polis, D-Boulder
"I look forward to reviewing Sen. Udall's legislation. I'm sympathetic to the plight of the workers and will do everything I can to make sure that they receive all of the treatment and compensation they deserve."
Rep. Mike Coffman, R-Aurora
"The congressman has directed one of his senior aides to meet with members of Sen. Udall's staff to review the proposed changes to the legislation."
Catherine Mortensen, spokeswoman for Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colorado Springs
"I have consistently supported efforts to compensate Rocky Flats employees who have sacrificed to keep our country safe."
Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Denver
"Congressman Salazar and then-Congressman Udall have worked closely on this issue in the past, and he will continue to have a close working relationship on radiation compensation with Sen. Udall. ... He has watched many constituents get hung up in bureaucratic red tape while their health is in great decline, and he understands that we must work to fix this as quickly as possible."
Eric Wortman, spokesman for Rep. John Salazar, D-Manassa
"Sen. Bennet will work closely with Sen. Udall and other members of the Colorado delegation to assure that Rocky Flats workers and their survivors are provided with the compensation they deserve. They put their lives on the line in defense of our nation and deserve fair and timely compensation for their sacrifice."
Michael Amodeo, spokesman for Sen. Michael Bennet.
- M.E. Sprengelmeyer
YAAWNNN! So, what about child care at LANL?
ReplyDeleteGotta love Senator Reid on this issue. He's both part of the problem and now trying to be part of the solution. A new Democrat for sure! The losers, of course, are the American taxpayers and the nuclear workers. The former all pay before they die and the latter all die before they are paid.
ReplyDeleteNaturally it took a vocal fighter and voter dying before the politicians really bothered to do anything vigorous about the stonewall bureaucracy.
ReplyDeleteTypical politicians.
President Obama is seeking a deal with Russia to slash the number of nuclear weapons by 80%. In tandem with this, will he also seek to slash the weapons budget of the NNSA nuclear research labs? He's already on the record of being strongly against RRW.
ReplyDelete_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
President Obama Seeks Russia Deal to Slash Nuclear Weapons - The Times (UK), Feb 4, 2009
President Obama will convene the most ambitious arms reduction talks with Russia for a generation, aiming to slash each country’s stockpile of nuclear weapons by 80 per cent.
The radical treaty would cut the number of nuclear warheads to 1,000 each, The Times has learnt. Key to the initiative is a review of the Bush Administration’s plan for a US missile defence shield in Eastern Europe, a project fiercely opposed by Moscow.
Mr Obama is to establish a non-proliferation office at the White House to oversee the talks, expected to be headed by Gary Samore, a non-proliferation negotiator in the Clinton Administration. The talks will be driven by Hillary Clinton’s State Department.
No final decision on the defence shield has been taken by Mr Obama. Yet merely delaying the placement of US missiles in Poland and a radar station in the Czech Republic — which if deployed would cost the US $4 billion annually — removes what has been a major impediment to Russian co-operation on arms reduction.
...Mr Obama views the reduction of arms by the US and Russia as critical to efforts to persuade countries such as Iran not to develop the Bomb.
www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/
world/us_and_americas/article5654836.ece
"A new Democrat for sure!"
ReplyDeletejust remember. Republicans are never responsible for anything.
"The radical treaty would cut the number of nuclear warheads to 1,000each..."
ReplyDeleteDoes this mean other nuclear weapons states can increase their stockpile to 1000?
Should our armies all be equal?
What's wrong with being stronger than others? We're not negotiating with the most honest of people here.
What's wrong with being stronger than others? We're not negotiating with the most honest of people here.
ReplyDelete...which is, of course, the exact same argument other countries use against the US.
As a show of 'good will' to the world, watch for Obama and Congress to also cut the US nuclear weapons budget by 80%. What little is left will then be turned over to the DOD.
ReplyDeletePresident Obama is seeking a deal with Russia to slash the number of nuclear weapons by 80%.
ReplyDeleteMore work for LANL. Yay!
"...which is, of course, the exact same argument other countries use against the US."
ReplyDeleteWhich "Other" country is your?
5:09 am: "The radical treaty would cut the number of nuclear warheads to 1,000 each"
ReplyDeleteWe already have a treaty to reduce to 1700 each; it's called the Moscow Treaty (2002) and was signed by Bush and Putin. How is the new number of 1000 each "radical", or even meaningful? No such treaty will ever be complied with by Russia.
Does anyone have a list of the 34 illnesses that are now a part of the Charlie Wolf Act??? I can't find it anywhere.
ReplyDeleteThe Charlie Wolf Act would expand the cancers covered under the Special Exposure Cohort.
ReplyDeletePresently, only 22 cancers are covered for SEC claims. They are:
In addition to the 22 specified cancers now covered under EEOICPA SEC facilities
Bone cancer
Renal cancers
Leukemia (other than chronic lymphocytic leukemia) provided the onset of the disease was at least two years after first exposure
Lung cancer (other than in-situ lung cancer that is discovered during or after a post-mortem exam)
The following diseases provided onset was at least five years after first exposure:
Multiple myeloma
Lymphomas (other than Hodgkin's disease)
Primary cancer of the:
Bile ducts
Brain
Breast (female)
Breast (male)
Colon
Esophagus
Gall bladder
Liver (except if cirrhosis or hepatitis B is indicated)
Ovary
Pancreas
Pharynx
Salivary gland
Small intestine
Stomach
Thyroid
Urinary bladder
N
CWA will add:
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S.757
Charlie Wolf Nuclear Workers Compensation Act (Introduced in Senate)
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SEC. 3. SPECIFIED DISEASE.
Section 4(b)(2) of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (42 U.S.C. 2210 note; Public Law 101-426) is amended--
(1) by striking `(other than chronic lymphocytic leukemia)' and inserting `(including chronic lymphocytic leukemia)';
(2) by inserting `posterior subcapsular cataracts, nonmalignant thyroid nodular disease, parathyroid adenoma, malignant tumors of the brain and central nervous system, brochio-alveolar carcinoma, benign neoplasms of the brain and central nervous system,' after `disease),'; and
(3) by striking `or lung' and inserting `lung, skin, kidney, salivary gland, rectum, pharynx, or prostate'.
Any other cancer or claims for workers employed after January 1, 2006 would still require dose reconstruction.
Hope this is helpful,
Terrie Barrie
ANWAG/CWP
970-824-2260
tbarrie@yahoo.com