Udall: Help Flats workers

Congressman rips treatment of Cold War 'heroes'

By Laura Frank, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Friday, April 4, 2008

Mark Udall

Mark Udall is mad. He's appalled. And he's not alone.

The U.S. congressman from Colorado told members of the White House Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health Thursday that the way the federal government treats sick nuclear weapons workers and their families "speaks volumes about us as a society."

"I'm appalled we continue to seem to find ways to stonewall them," he said.

Udall and staff from three other Colorado lawmakers are upset about problems with a federal program to compensate sick nuclear weapons workers or their survivors for harm the workers suffered while building America's atomic arsenal.

Last month, some workers and survivors who had been told that they qualified for compensation were rejected. This happened because officials at the U.S. Labor Department, which runs the program, changed the rules in January.

"Seems like they (program officials) are attempting to deny compensation to these workers and their families," Udall said. "Every time we move one roadblock out of the way, another pops up.

"It makes me angry. We've got to err on the side of workers, not on the side of the federal government."

Some of those families listened to Udall address the White House board Thursday. Sue Yourishin, of Westcliffe, said she was surprised that some board members didn't realize Labor officials had changed the criteria for qualifying for certain compensation.

The law requires - among other things - that employees worked at least 250 days at a specific weapons site. But Yourishin received a letter from the Labor Department saying she and her brother would have to prove their late mother, Mary A. Bock, worked 250 days in a specific building or buildings on a list the department provided.

Mary Bock's work records show only that she worked in an administrative building known as 111. The siblings, however, know their mother gave tours that took her to more dangerous places, such as the buildings on the Labor Department's list, but they have no records of it.

"How can we prove that?" Yourishin said in an interview.

The congressional staffers shared their constituents' frustrations. At one point, Carolyn Boller, Udall's normally reserved staff expert on Rocky Flats issues, told the government officials: "You can't change the damn rules in the middle of the game!"

In the end, the presidential panel members decided to take the matter before their full board later this month to see if the board wants to send a letter to the U.S. secretary of health clarifying how they believe workers should be awarded compensation.

The board could tell the health secretary only that their intentions are not being followed. What happens next would be up to the secretaries of Health and of Labor.

Udall said he hoped that the Labor Department would change its policy.

"The families and workers have not received their just due," he said. "The people who fought the Cold War are no less heroes than those who fought the hot wars."

frankl@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5091

• April 5, 2008

  5:55 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  ABlock35 writes:

  According to Congressional Records, the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program (EEOICP) was supposed to be a claimant friendly program. As a former federal examiner, who worked inside the Seattle EEOICP Office, I know that the EEOICP is not a claimant friendly program, because, as in other branches of government, friends are appointing friends instead of the best qualified candidates.

  While working at the Seattle EEOICP Office, I saw first hand how Christy Long ( District Director) and Tracy Johnson( Asst. District Director) promoted only friends of friends and not the best qualified candidates. A couple of examples of this one are: a unit manager at the Seattle DOL EEOICP Office continuously went out for 2-3 hours lunches and during unit meetings all he did was talk about how drunk he got the night before; and a senior examiner told our entire unit that she was the "guarder of the treasury" - and this was the same senior examiner who dropped out of college. But nonetheless, drunks and uneducated employees, who just happen to be friends of Asst. District Director Tracy Johnson and District Director Christy Long are being promoted, at taxpayer expense, with no qualifications to hold the positions that they hold.

  I am hopeful that once a Democrat is sitting in the White House, the deny deny deny attitude will end when this program is managed by qualified applicants. People like Shelby Hallmark ( hallmark.shelby@dol.gov), Christy Long (long.christy@dol.gov), Sharron Tyler (tyler.sharron@dol.gov), Tracy Johnson (johnson.tracy@dol.com) and Pete Turcic (turcic.peter@dol.gov) have failed to implement this program according to the true intent of Congress. Federal employment has turned into a welfare system for friends of friends inside the DOL.

  If I had my way, all directors of this program would be fired so we can finally hire people who have the skills, education and experience to apply the EEOICPA according to the true intent of Congress.

  On 1/20/09, a new President has a unique opportunity to start fresh; " It's time to clean house, fire all the directors, and start from scratch".

  Anne K. Block is a former examiner at the DOL, a licensed WA Attorney, and a Writer. Anne welcomes all letters and is interested in claimants' stories and can be reached at lifeisgood357@comcast.net

• April 8, 2008

  11:40 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  wiseup1 writes:

  As a former nuclear worker at Rocky Flats, I am disgusted but not surprised that the practices of the directors of the EEOICP. It is government at its "finest". While they pad their own pockets and those of their friends and families, those who are suffering and dying from the effects of exposure to radioactive contaminants lie in pain and disbelief that their government is exploiting them in this manner.
  And while the President presents a convenient scapegoat for blame of these practices, there are certainly others who should be held responsible for allowing the cronyism and nepotism and unethical practices used by the directors of this program to continue. What I would like to know is why cannot this disgraceful practice be exposed for what it is and addressed? Where is a Congressional leader who has the courage to call for an investigation? Why is it more important to investigate whether a ball player is using steroids than it is to expose the theft of these people of the American taxpayers?
  I applaud Congressman Mark Udall for continuing to bring this issue to the attention of our country. But, more than words is necessary to remedy this problem.
  Why can't the directors be relieved of their positions, and the jobs of those they hired taken from them and a good housecleaning take place now, not in January?
  Workers are dying as we fiddle. Their families are suffering now.
  They may not live to see any changes made if those changes do not happen now.