Editorial: Aid for sick workers may yet finally arrive

Friday, Aug. 9, 2002 | 9:13 a.m.

Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham has done the right thing in removing a regulatory roadblock that could have held up compensation for nuclear weapons plant workers who had gotten sick on the job. Nearly two years ago Congress passed legislation to provide a lump sum payment of $150,000 to each of the estimated 4,000 workers nationwide who had been exposed to radiation, silica, which causes lung damage that is similar to asbestosis, and beryllium, which also can cause lung diseases, during their employment at these plants during the Cold War years. In addition, the bill would cover the medical benefits of the workers, some who worked at the Nevada Test Site, for the rest of their lives.

The first draft of the Energy Department's rule to implement the program, revealed in May of this year, was terrible. It would have made it harder for nuclear weapons workers, many of whom are seriously ill or near death, to get compensation. That draft rule would have allowed government contractors to contest compensation claims, a situation that directly ran counter to the intent of the legislation to get the workers immediate compensation.

Most of the contractors are self-insured, so the Energy Department will reimburse them for their costs. But in those cases where contractors carried a private insurance policy or were covered by a state insurance fund, the Energy Department can't compel them to pay the claims, a loophole that doesn't allow the Energy Department to order these employers to pay the claims. But in the interest of decency, the contractors should honor the claims and pay these men and women for all the suffering they've gone through. Nothing less will do.