Compensation for uranium workers stalls

Cost fears: Former Blockson workers may be affected

A bill that could help compensate workers at the former Blockson Chemical Co. and other workers exposed to radiation without protection is being held up in Congress because some U.S. House leaders believe the plan could be too costly to taxpayers.

   Last spring, the Energy Department reversed 50 years of federal policy by declaring that workers injured or killed by radiation at weapons plants should be compensated. The agency proposed medical care and minimum lump sum payments of $100,000.

   The Senate later approved a measure granting $200,000 in compensation from the federal government, plus health benefits, to workers who had been exposed to radiation, silica or beryllium, and who either suffer from or have died from silicosis, beryllium disease or a radiogenic cancer.

   The House has adopted a resolution supporting the idea of compensating the ailing workers. But House leaders already have stymied the Senate-approved plan because they say they fear the payments will be too expensive.

   House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Yorkville, expressed doubts Wednesday about whether his own experts' estimate of a sick workers' compensation plan is too low.

   The Congressional Budget Office — normally a trusted source of financial predictions — estimated it would cost taxpayers at least $1.7 billion over 10 years to compensate terminally ill workers from nuclear weapons and beryllium plants.

   "I think it is very loose with what could be a huge entitlement," Hastert said.

   He made his comments as House and Senate negotiators tried to hatch a compromise that would enable a compensation program to be passed before the end of the congressional session, expected some time next week.

   Every proposal offered during the negotiations has specifically promised compensation to workers at the three uranium-enrichment plants, in Paducah, Ky., Piketon, Ohio, and Oak Ridge, Tenn.

   But Dan Guttman, an attorney and former director of the President's Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments, said Wednesday he believes some workers who were exposed to uranium dust at the former Blockson Chemical Co. on Patterson Road west of Brandon Road could be eligible for compensation as well if a compromise is reached.

   A recent USA Today series named Blockson, which was bought out by the Tennessee-based Olin Corp. in 1955, was one of some 200 private companies nationwide to have secret Cold War government contracts to extract uranium for weapons manufacturing.

   USA Today said Blockson/Olin workers extracted about 2 million pounds of uranium for the government between 1952 and 1962. Company officials, at the request of the U.S. Department of Energy and the Illinois Department of Nuclear Safety, are searching for records detailing the uranium extraction and the cleanup of the site where it was done, called Building 55. Olin officials say they have not been able to find those records.

   Under a provision in the Senate-approved bill, Guttman said, workers in Building 55 and their families or survivors still could be eligible for the compensation — if they developed certain types of cancers usually linked to uranium, such as lung cancer.

   About a dozen family members of those who worked in Building 55 have called The Herald News since the first article appeared here on Sept. 20. Some of their loved ones died of cancers; others from heart attacks. They always wondered whether working at Building 55, even after it stopped producing uranium in 1962, could have contributed to the deaths, some of which came at relatively early ages.

   Others whose loved ones worked with various acids and asbestos at Blockson/Olin wondered if those conditions could have caused their relatives to die from various cancers as well. Guttman said that issue likely would be more tough to prove, especially the ones where they suspect someone died from exposure to chemicals.

   Asbestos poisoning is well documented, however, Guttman said. And those cases possibly could be linked, if Olin officials or relatives can prove the victims worked around asbestos dust without proper safety equipment.

   Guttman suggested that all victims and/or their families contact local congressional representatives, U.S. Rep. Jerry Weller, R-Morris, or U.S. Rep. Judy Biggert, R-Hinsdale, to ask them for help in getting the Senate bill passed in the House — and for help in getting Olin to find the missing workers' records.

   Weller aide Ben Fallon said the congressman is aware of the Senate bill and the Blockson workers and is researching the issue. Biggert could not be reached for comment Wednesday night.

   Back on Capitol Hill, the Budget Office estimate of $1.7 billion for the compensation package had cheered the workers' advocates, because it was lower than an earlier prediction of $2.4 billion or more. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS contributed to this report.