Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member Jackson-Lee, and Members of the Subcommittee, thank you for convening this long overdue hearing. Today, I am extremely pleased to testify in favor of the U.S. Government providing fair and equitable compensation for a group of Cold War warriors who sacrificed their health and in some cases their lives to build the nuclear arsenal that won the Cold War. This matter has attracted considerable attention in recent months, and before the 106th Congress completes its work, I hope that we can find a bipartisan consensus to provide compensation for the individuals who helped keep our nation strong.

For some time, I have worked to help 1,200 people in my district who worked with beryllium at a plant in Hazle Township, Luzerne County, from 1957 until 1981, when the plant closed. Beryllium, as you may know, is a super-light, super-strong metal used for more than 50 years in our nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons research facilities to control fission reactions. Beryllium is also a key component of strategic weapons and is still used extensively at several U.S. Government sites around the nation.

As a result of their work, some employees contracted chronic beryllium disease, an incurable, progressive, debilitating disease that attacks the lungs of about 3 percent of those exposed to beryllium dust. Chronic beryllium disease may take many years to develop and in some cases is fatal. Over time, a chronic inflammatory reaction leads to tissue destruction, formation of scarring, nodules, and eventually, to impaired lung function. Moreover, even a brief exposure to very low levels of beryllium dust can lead to this disease.

The plight of our forgotten Cold War soldiers suffering from chronic beryllium disease was first brought to my attention by one of my constituents, Alfred Matusick. For a number of years, Al has informed me about the declining health of his fellow workers as a result of their work at the Hazle Township plant. He has also been tenacious in raising this issue with other legislators across the country. Al, who also suffers from chronic beryllium disease, was invited to testify before you today, but unfortunately he had several medical appointments that he could not miss.

After Al brought this problem to my attention, I researched the issue, consulted experts, and learned that chronic beryllium disease would begin to affect the human body long after the statute of limitations ran out on state workers' compensation programs. I also learned that records from the federal Atomic Energy Commission revealed that one air sample taken from the Hazle Township plant in 1958 contained beryllium dust levels 330 times above the Commission's limit for short-term exposure. As late as 1971, an independent researcher from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found beryllium concentrations in the plant 52 times the legal limit for short-term exposure.

Not only did these facts trouble me, but because of my previous experience as an administrative law judge for workers' compensation cases I decided to introduce legislation to rectify this situation. Using the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act of 1990 as a model, I introduced H.R. 675 in February 1999. H.R. 675 provides compensation of $100,000 to victims of chronic beryllium disease. Because that legislation was the first bill in the 106th Congress to address this issue, I consequently became a leader in the debate to compensate our ailing Cold War soldiers.

During the last two years, I have taken other actions on this issue, and I would briefly like to outline some of them for you. On June 17, 1999, for example, I joined a bipartisan coalition of Senators and Members of Congress in requesting a General Accounting Office study on the evolution of our understanding of the hazards of beryllium as a hazardous material and on the controls over exposure to its use. GAO issued its response in May 2000 and found a number of interesting points. One, beginning in the 1940s, scientists linked exposure to beryllium with an inflammatory lung condition now called chronic beryllium disease. Two, national and international organizations now consider beryllium a human carcinogen. And three, the federal government has been slow in recognizing and addressing the occupational risks of beryllium within federal laboratories, at Department of Energy vendors, and in private corporations.

Additionally, our efforts on Capitol Hill attracted the attention of the Clinton Administration. In June 1999, Energy Secretary Bill Richardson announced that the department would propose legislation to establish an occupational illness compensation program for workers at nuclear weapon-producing facilities as an alternative to current state systems. Additionally, Secretary Richardson noted that the proposal would reverse the Energy Department's past practice of opposing and litigating most worker health compensation claims. Al Matusick spoke at that announcement and explained why we should provide assistance to help those suffering from chronic beryllium disease.

After several months of work, the Clinton Administration developed legislative language to implement this proposal, and I introduced that bill in the House of Representatives on November 17, 1999. Since then, a diverse and bipartisan coalition of Members has decided to cosponsor H.R. 3418. The legislative proposal covers employees of the Energy Department and its predecessor agencies, Energy Department contractors and subcontractors, and beryllium vendors who sold beryllium to the Energy Department. Under H.R. 3418, affected individuals would be eligible to receive reimbursement for medical costs, assistance for impairment or vocational rehabilitation, and compensation for lost wages. Workers with sensitivity to beryllium could also be reimbursed for medical costs involved in tracking their condition.

Importantly, employees of beryllium vendors were included in H.R. 3418 for two reasons. One, the Energy Department's contracts with vendors through the early 1960s generally required them to apply the same worker safety provisions that the federal government used in its own facilities. Additionally, the vendors manufactured beryllium parts to government specifications and for the sole use of the government. By including beryllium vendors in any legislation we enact, we will make sure that we can help Al and his colleagues who once worked at the Hazle Township plant.

Shortly after I introduced H.R. 3418, President Clinton included $12.8 million in his budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2001 to implement the plan to compensate those workers who contracted chronic beryllium disease as a result of working with beryllium throughout the Department of Energy complex. Moreover, throughout 2000 many of my colleagues in the House and Senate have introduced or decided to cosponsor a number of bills to compensate victims of chronic beryllium disease, as well as radiological diseases, radiological cancers, and silicosis who performed work at Department of Energy facilities or vendor sites.

The Senate also acted on this issue on June 29, 2000 by voting to include a compensation provision in its version of the Defense Authorization bill for fiscal 2001. This proposal has strong, bipartisan support in the House. As you know, I joined with 103 of my colleagues in recently sending a letter to the Chairmen and Ranking Members of the appropriate committees serving on the conference on that bill. That letter urges them to include this proposal in the final version of the bill.

Additionally, my colleague, Congressman Mark Udall of Colorado, has now introduced legislation in the House, numbered H.R. 5189, which is similar to the amendment that passed the Senate in June. Like the other workers' compensation bills for our Cold War warriors, the House leadership referred H.R. 5189 to the Judiciary Committee for review. From my perspective, this proposal represents a well-crafted, reasonable, and fair compensation system that has been thoroughly discussed and unanimously approved by the Senate.

Mr. Chairman, since the beginning of the Cold War, an estimated 20,000 workers may have been exposed to beryllium at Energy Department sites. Thousands of others were also exposed to radiation and silica. Our workers who did their part to end the Cold War deserve fair compensation for their work in protecting national security. People like Al Matusick are now dying from the diseases they developed as a result of their selfless efforts to win the Cold War. Before Al and others like him breathe their last breath, I would hope that we would follow through on the our commitment to act this year to provide "efficient, uniform and adequate compensation for beryllium-related health conditions, radiation-related health conditions and silica-related health conditions."

In closing, Mr. Chairman, thank you again for holding this hearing on this important issue. In order to honor our Cold War veterans who sacrificed so much in the defense of their country, I urge you to pass legislation that President Clinton can sign into law this year.