[NukeNet] Law Changed to Aid Ill Livermore Lab Workers/Press Release

[Marylia Kelley]

One positive step in a still too long road. And, special appreciation goes
to Raili Glenn, who put the original petition forward in honor of her
husband David, who passed on due to his exposure and illness. Read on...

For further information contact:
Robert Schwartz, Staff Attorney, Tri-Valley CAREs, 925-443-7148
Marylia Kelley, Executive Director, Tri-Valley CAREs, 925-443-7148
Kevin Lawlor, Press Secretary, Rep. Ellen O. Tauscher, 202-225-1880

For immediate release: Wednesday, April 2, 2008
COMMUNITY GROUP, CONGRESSIONAL REPRESENTATIVE HAIL NEW CLASS ADDED TODAY TO
FEDERAL SICK WORKER LAW TO AID LIVERMORE LAB EMPLOYEES

LIVERMORE, CA - Today, a class of employees from Lawrence Livermore
National Laboratory were officially added to the Special Exposure Cohort
(SEC) under the federal Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation
Program Act of 2000 (EEOICPA).

"This designation is important. It will greatly simplify the compensation
process for some of the Livermore Lab employees who suffered on-the-job
exposures and then developed cancer," commented Robert Schwartz, Tri-Valley
CAREs' Staff Attorney. "The long wait that many workers in our community
have been forced to endure may soon be over," continued Schwartz, who
facilitates a quarterly support group for ill Livermore Lab and Sandia Lab
workers.

"Anyone who gets sick while in the service of our national interest should
receive the benefits they deserve, and even more, these critical services
must be delivered quickly," said U.S. Representative Ellen O. Tauscher
(D-10th District). "I have been working for some time to ensure that sick
workers have a resource center to assist them in the lengthy compensation
application process. A resource center was opened in Livermore in 2004, and
now this expedited approval process will become an additional resource for
workers and their families to get the assistance they desperately need."

The Livermore Lab SEC, which becomes law today, allows sick workers who
meet certain employment qualifications to receive compensation for
specified cancers associated with radiation exposure without having to go
through the bureaucratic snarl of individual dose reconstruction, which is
impossible to do correctly in the absence of records.

Both Tri-Valley CAREs and Congresswoman Tauscher had written the Secretary
of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Mike Leavitt,
urging him to expedite designation of the class of employees from Livermore
Lab as part of the Special Exposure Cohort.

On March 3, 2008, the Secretary of HHS designated the following class of
employ-ees as an addition to the SEC: Employees of the Department of Energy
(DOE), its predecessor agencies, and DOE contractors or subcontractors who
were monitored for radiation exposure while working at Livermore Lab from
January 1, 1950, through December 31, 1973, for a number of work days
aggregating at least 250 work days or in combination with work days within
the parameters established for one or more other classes of employees in
the SEC.  Under the EEOICPA, a 30-day period generally follows the HHS
designation before it becomes law.

The Secretary's designation differed in some respects from the class
definition that was originally proposed.  The usual class definition
language of "who were monitored or should have been monitored" was replaced
with "were monitored for radiation exposure." Also, the language in the
original class definition has been changed from "for internal exposure to
mixed fission and/or activation product radionuclides" to "radiation
exposure."  According to the Secretary, this change was made for accuracy
and ease of application to compensation decisions by the Department of
Labor (DOL).

"While this designation is certainly a step in the right direction, I'm
concerned that many people are being left out," observed Schwartz.  "For
instance, employees who worked in administrative areas will not be covered
under this class definition. Nor will it cover Livermore Lab workers whose
employment, and on-the-job exposures, occurred after 1973.  Tri-Valley
CAREs will continue to work with community members and elected officials
until these workers receive the compensation they so justly deserve."

BACKGROUND: The SEC is a designation given to a class of workers for whom
sufficiently accurate dose reconstructions cannot be performed.  Without
such a designation, sick workers must have their doses reconstructed by the
National In-stitute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) in a lengthy
and confusing proc-ess that is often incomplete when a sick worker passes
away.  Once given the SEC designation, sick workers instead must
demonstrate that they fall within the SEC class definition and have one of
the specified 22 cancers outlined in the EEOICPA.

Now that the class of workers from Livermore Lab has been added to the SEC,
all claims at NIOSH will be sent back to DOL.  DOL will then be responsible
for deter-mining eligibility for compensation under the new class.  DOL
will also review all claims currently in its possession for individuals
from Livermore Lab.

Congress enacted the EEOICPA in 2000.  The Act provides for qualified
claimants or their surviving spouses to receive a maximum of $250,000 in
compensation.  If living, related medical treatment for the sick worker is
included.

LOCAL ACTION/EVENTS: Tri-Valley CAREs will be holding its next Sick Worker
Support Group meeting at the Livermore Public Library on Wednesday, June
4th.  The meeting will be held in Community Room A from 10am to noon.  In
addition, officials from the U.S. Dept. of Labor will hold informational
meetings in Livermore on Wednesday, April 23 at 7 PM and Thursday, April 24
at 10 AM and 2 PM. These meetings will be at the Doubletree Club, 720 Las
Flores Rd., Livermore.

For more information, contact Robert Schwartz, Tri-Valley CAREs, (925)
443-7148.

-- 30 --

Marylia Kelley,
Executive Director

Tri-Valley CAREs
2582 Old First Street
Livermore, CA, USA  94551

Ph: (925) 443-7148
Fx: (925) 443-0177
Web: www.trivalleycares.org
Email: marylia at trivalleycares.org or marylia at earthlink.net