Congress expands downwind funding

WASHINGTON — Uranium mill workers — many of them Utahns — sickened by radioactivity from the nation's atomic weapons program in the 1950s and 1960s will now be compensated, thanks to a rare weekend congressional session that saw a plethora of bills pass before members of Congress race home to resume their political campaigns.

The funding, pushed by U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, made its way into the Defense Authorization Act, which contains a provision that claims by uranium miners, millers and transporters will now be fully funded by the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act (EEOICPA). The amount of the funding increase was not immediately available.

The Department of Justice, which oversees the program, testified before the Judiciary Committee, which Hatch chairs, that the trust fund to pay claims will soon run out of money and claimants will be issued IOUs unless additional funding was found.

"This transfer is good for everyone," Hatch said. "These uranium workers will now receive the same benefits that other atomic weapons program workers receive, and (the fund) has more money to pay downwinders who have suffered from exposure."

Uranium workers received $100,000 under the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) and an additional $50,000 through EEOICPA, along with full medical benefits. The new provision designates that EEOICPA will now cover the full compensation for these workers.

"This is a good first step, but everyone harmed by nuclear testing — including downwinders — should receive equal compensation," said Hatch, who tried but failed to get downwinders compensated under the program. "The fight is not over, and I will not rest until all RECA claimants receive the coverage they deserve."

Currently, those who lived downwind from nuclear testing during the Cold War are eligible for compensation only if they lived in certain counties, during certain periods of time and contracted certain types of cancers.

U.S. Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, also praised the bill to compensate "nuclear weapons production workers who developed serious illnesses after being exposed to radioactive materials at Department of Energy sites during the Cold War era."

• The Defense Authorization Act also includes a provision sponsored by U.S. Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, to end the so-called "widow's tax," where survivors of military personnel saw their benefits reduced upon reaching age 62.

"The families of our men and women in uniform serve right alongside our troops," Bishop said. "This bill makes plain our dedication to protecting the financial security of the survivors of military retirees."