Sick DOE workers' claims languish

[icymist]

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/166744_doecomp29.html



Monday, March 29, 2004

Sick DOE workers' claims languish
Most cases unreviewed, no compensation paid under 4-year-old plan

By CHARLES POPE
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT

WASHINGTON -- Four years after Vice President Al Gore heralded it as the first step toward "compensating these workers for their suffering," an effort to provide payments to workers made sick by their jobs at Hanford and other nuclear weapons plants is collapsing.

Although tens of millions of dollars have been spent on the program, not one penny has been paid out so far to workers, even though 23,350 claims have been filed since 2001 claiming illnesses caused by exposure to toxic substances on the job. Fewer than 6 percent have been reviewed. The system is overburdened, understaffed and sluggish, and officials say it's unlikely that the pace will accelerate anytime soon.

"We're familiar with how it's working now, and how it's working now is not very good," said Joe Davis, a spokesman for the Department of Energy.

"We are facing an incredible number of filings. We have faced the problem of ramping up our program to meet our own expectations of getting these cases dealt with in a timely manner. It hasn't been easy," he said.

Energy officials say they need more money, even though Congress provided $55 million this fiscal year and probably will grant $43 million next year.

(more)

[Felix Mala]

1. Shell Game

The White House is waiting for a new NIH report that says exposure to radioactive elements actually has some healthful benefits. The White House plans to prove their hypothesis later this year utilizing the population of North Korea.

[bkcc]

2. and they'll keep piling up....

Or they will be dismissed entirely by courts. This administration has been packing the national court system with their anti-worker, business-friendly judges since * took office.

As a result, workers' rights are rapidly becoming a thing of the past.

Goodbye, progress.
Welcome back, endentured servitude!