Bill to expand compensation for radiation victims moves to full House

Matt Kelley

Thursday, May 25, 2000 | 9:20 a.m.

WASHINGTON - More former uranium miners and westerners sickened by above-ground nuclear tests could get government payments of up to $100,000 each under a measure sent to the full House.

On Wednesday, the House Judiciary Committee endorsed a Senate-passed bill that would expand the list of cancers and other diseases that make former miners or nuclear test "downwinders" eligible for compensation under a 1990 law.

The measure also would add open pit uranium miners and uranium mill workers to those who can seek the payments, and adds five states to the list of six states where such workers are eligible.

The bill, as well as the 1990 law, provide "much-deserved compensation for the people who provided this country with uranium when we needed it most," said Utah Republican Rep. Chris Cannon, whose district includes many of those eligible for compensation.

Some former miners said the latest bill did not go far enough because it did not increase the compensation amount, did not cover miners who worked after 1971 and did not include all illnesses miners say were caused by radiation.

"This leaves us with much work to be done," said Sarah Benally of the Navajo Uranium Radiation Victims Committee.

The law was meant to help westerners who became ill because of their involvement in Cold War nuclear weapons production. Much of the uranium used in nuclear weapons was mined in the Four Corners area of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Utah, and aboveground nuclear tests were detonated in New Mexico and Nevada.

Critics of the 1990 law are seeking the changes, saying the original law was too narrow and too many people with legitimate claims are being denied. As of March 1, the Justice Department had paid 3,302 claims worth $244 million and denied another 3,500 claims.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the proposed changes would cost $1 billion during the next two decades.

Among other things, the bill would extend eligibility to uranium workers from South Dakota, North Dakota, Idaho, Oregon and Texas. The current law covers Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming and Washington state.

Other specific changes in the bill include: