Administration issues position statement on nuclear compensation

Katherine Rizzo

Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2000 | 4:55 a.m.

WASHINGTON - The Clinton administration on Tuesday endorsed swift enactment of a compensation plan for nuclear weapons plant workers sickened on the job. But there was no recommendation for helping Nevada Test Site workers.

In a letter to House Armed Services Committee Chairman Floyd Spence, R-S.C., Energy Secretary Bill Richardson asked that a compensation program be passed as part of an unrelated military bill.

Richardson supported guaranteed funding for the compensation, requiring the government to pay the benefits, regardless of cost, without gaining approval each year through the congressional appropriations process.

Some House Republicans have expressed reluctance to create any new benefits entitlement, and the administration's own budget office expressed concern about the unpredictable long-term cost.

Congressional negotiators had been waiting for weeks for the administration to clarify its position.

House Republicans who favored more study had been citing disagreement between the Energy Department and the Office of Management and Budget as reason to hold off a decision.

Richardson's letter said the Clinton administration strongly supports compensation for workers exposed to radiation or beryllium. He made no mention of miners who breathed lung-clogging silica while digging tunnels under the Nevada Test Site.

Dr. David Michaels, DOE's top health official, said that's because "the administration hasn't formally closed and sent its recommendations on that."

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said it was a victory to get the administration to be silent about silicosis.

"They were originally going to oppose this, and only include the workers exposed to radiation or beryllium," he said. "We'll take what we can get."

Reid said he was mainly concerned about House leaders' opposition to including silicosis victims in a compensation program.

"We have a real problem with leadership over there," Reid said.

No Nevadans sit on the conference committee of representatives and senators discussing the bill.

Workers at the Nevada Test Site oversaw nuclear weapons tests from 1951 to 1992. As many as 100,000 Southern Nevadans worked at the test site, 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas, though it's not clear how many suffer from silicosis.

Michaels said he thought prospects for achieving agreement on a compensation program had brightened.

"We think it has a very good shot," he said. "I think politically there's enough support to make this work."

The Congressional Budget Office estimated that a Senate-passed compensation plan could cost about $2.4 billion over the first five years, including coverage of silicosis.

After running into resistance from House Republicans, the administration and some of the program's Senate backers proposed changes that would bring the five-year cost down to about $1.8 billion.

Among the changes under discussion:

- Reducing the sick workers' cash benefit from a minimum of $200,000, as passed by the Senate, to $100,000. There was no clear consensus Tuesday on whether that $100,000 would be the total paid to each eligible worker or the minimum, House and Senate aides said.

- Giving workers with life-threatening beryllium disease more benefits than those with beryllium sensitivity.

- Limiting all benefits to only those who worked in the weapons complex at least a year.

No compensation program for the workers with radiation-caused illnesses or beryllium disease has passed the House, though two House subcommittees have scheduled hearings on competing compensation bills.

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The bill numbers are H.R. 675, H.R. 3418, H.R. 3478, H.R. 3495, H.R. 4263, H.R. 4398, HR 5189 and SB 2519

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On the Net:

Bill texts: http://thomas.loc. gov

Justice Department's Radiation Exposure Compensation Program: http://www.usdoj.gov/civil/torts/const/reca/index.htm