Senators seek Flats inquiry

Salazar among 15 who want probe of compensation gap

Laura Frank, Rocky Mountain News

Published June 5, 2007 at midnight

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Fifteen U.S. senators, including Colorado's Ken Salazar, called Monday for a congressional hearing into why sick nuclear weapons workers are facing delays and other problems in getting federal compensation.

Also Monday, another group of senators sent a letter to two federal departments that run the aid program, complaining that the departments have underfunded it. This has caused "unacceptable" delays in compensating "Cold War heroes" who helped build the U.S. nuclear weapons arsenal, the letter said.

The letter calling for a hearing says "scrutiny in recent months" has shown that the program is not working as Congress intended. The bipartisan group of senators includes Democratic presidential hopefuls Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

The program was created in 2000 to give financial and medical compensation to workers whose illnesses are linked to their jobs at atomic weapons sites, including the now-demolished Rocky Flats northwest of Denver.

But the senators cited delays in processing cases, a high denial rate and allegations that federal officials have tried to limit payouts to cut costs.

"The delay in compensation and medical benefits has gone on way too long for these veterans of the Cold War," Salazar spokesman Cody Wertz said.

The move is something that sick workers have been hoping for.

"I hope the committee will agree to hold not just one but multiple hearings, because there are multiple problems with this program," said Terrie Barrie, of Craig, who helped start the Alliance of Nuclear Worker Advocacy Groups to assist ill workers such as her husband, George.

In their letter, the senators say Congress knew when it created the program that finding a scientific link between some workers' radiation exposure and their illnesses would be difficult. That's because some records were missing, inadequate, lost or destroyed, they wrote.

In such cases, the law allows workers with certain radiation-related cancers to receive "special exposure cohort" status and streamlined help. A presidential advisory board will decide June 12 whether to recommend that status for Rocky Flats workers.

The Rocky Mountain News reported March 10 that federal documents showed officials had made plans to limit payouts for sick and dying nuclear weapons workers. The officials in charge of the program went behind the backs of their bosses, called on White House officials for help and tried to hide their efforts, according to e-mails and memos obtained by a congressional committee.

Labor officials say the plans were never carried out, and they deny trying to hide them.

The senators have asked the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee, led by Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., to hold the hearings.

What's next

• What: A presidential advisory board will meet to decide whether to recommend that Rocky Flats workers receive streamlined financial and medical help.

• When: The public can speak to the board at 5:30 p.m., June 11. The board's vote is expected June 12.

• Where: Sheraton Denver West Hotel, 360 Union Blvd., Lakewood

frankl@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5091

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