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LANL Cold War Vets Closer To Receiving Compensation
WASHINGTON -U.S. Representative Tom Udall, D-N.M., and Senators Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M. and Pete Domenici, R-N.M., today applauded a federal advisory panel's approval of a petition that could pave the way for hundreds of sick Los Alamos National Laboratory workers to receive compensation for their service.
The panel, called the Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health, approved a petition late Thursday granting "Special Exposure Cohort" (SEC) status to workers who developed radiogenic cancers after having been employed for at least 250 days in certain technical areas at LANL between March 15, 1943 through Dec. 31, 1975. The SEC eliminates the need for claimants to undergo the arduous Dose Reconstruction process. The decision has the potential to affect 400-600 LANL claimants.
The petition now requires the approval of Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt. If endorsed by the secretary, the SEC petition will then be sent to Congress for a 30-day review and printed in the Federal Register before taking effect.
If the SEC petition is enacted, as is now expected, those who qualify will receive a lump sum payment of $150,000 and health care coverage to treat their illnesses. These benefits would be made through the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act (EEOICPA), which Bingaman helped write into law in 2000.
In welcoming the advisory decision, the New Mexico lawmakers credited former State Rep. Harriett Ruiz for her persistence in being an advocate for the former LANL workers.
"I am pleased that we have made this significant step towards reaching closure for many of my constituents who are sick, cold-war heroes, dying while awaiting a determination on their claims," said Udall. "I commend Harriett for her relentless efforts to move the SEC forward and thank NIOSH and the Advisory Board for recognizing the need to compensate them for their efforts on behalf of our nation. I will be urging Secretary Leavitt to promptly approve this SEC. There has already been too long of a delay."
"This is good news for former LANL employees who were made sick through their service during the Cold War," Bingaman said. "Thousands of workers took part in experiments at LANL - and only later were some of them determined to be dangerous to their health. I strongly believe they should receive compensation and medical care for the important work they performed. I commend Mrs. Ruiz for working so hard to help these LANL workers."
"It has been a long and arduous haul for these former Los Alamos lab workers and their families. This decision is a major step forward toward finally getting them the compensation they deserve," Domenici said. "I commend Mrs. Ruiz for being so diligent in her quest to ensure that these workers are compensated. I will ask Secretary Leavitt to push this process closer to its finish."
The SEC petition was submitted in early 2006 by Ruiz, who was acting on behalf of her late husband Ray Ruiz, who succumbed to lung cancer in May 2004. Mr. Ruiz worked at LANL where he was exposed to harmful doses of radiation. His last wish was for Harriett to continue his advocacy on behalf of his fellow workers.
"I made a promise to my husband to continue his fight for just compensation for the EEOICPA claimants," Mrs. Ruiz said. "This SEC is a first step in fulfilling not only my promise to Ray, but the government's promise to these sick workers. This victory could not have been realized without the tremendous support of many different individuals, including our federal representatives, Andrew Evaskovich of the International Guards Union in Los Alamos, House Speaker Ben Lujan and NM State Representative Jeanette Wallace who were co-petitioners on the SEC, and of course the encouragement and prayers from the Los Alamos EEOICPA claimants."
The National Institution for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), which is responsible for conducting research and recommendations for the compensation of work-related illnesses and radiation dose reconstruction under EEOICPA, asked Mrs. Ruiz to redraft her SEC petition three times before it was formally accepted for review.
Subsequently, Mrs. Ruiz and Udall testified in Washington before the NIOSH Board in June of last year urging an expedited review and approval of the Special Cohort Status because of the increasingly high mortality rate of the early LANL workers and their survivors. Three months ago NIOSH issued a favorable report on the Ruiz petition, making the determination that it is impossible to reconstruct radiation doses received internally in the body during the early years of the lab's existence before reliable monitoring methods for detection had been developed.
NIOSH's report was given to the Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health, which has the authority to make recommendations to the White House. During a public hearing of the board last month, Bingaman urged that the Ruiz petition be approved.
The Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health reviewed and approved the petition during this week's series of meetings in Westminster,
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