Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

I was diagnosed with this disease two years ago by doctors from the University of Boston and the University of San Francisco. It was caused by inhaling dust fibers while digging tunnels for the testing of nuclear weapons.

Between 1958 and 1971, I worked at the Nevada Test Site off and on for many years. The contractor for the United States Government at that facility was Reynolds Electric and Engineering Company (REECO).

I started as a miner and then worked as an operator of a mucking machine. Like most of my colleagues, I was attracted to the job at the Test Site by the prospect of stable employment, good income and job security. We were also attracted by the fact that our work was critical to our country's defense and the collective well-being of all or our citizens. We were proud to play a role in helping our country win the Cold War.

To give you a little understanding of what work at the Test Site involved, let me give you a brief description. We bore tunnels under the earth where the Government conducted tests on - and detonated - nuclear devices. In Area 15, where I worked, we tunneled down 12 to 1400 feet, and then would tunnel horizontally from a "station." The work involved drilling and blasting in the direction of the dig, barring the tunnel to prevent cave-ins or collapses, wetting the loose debris, and removing the muck.

Unlike other mining operations I have worked in, at the Test Site no respirator protection was provided. The dust was so thick, you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. Whether to save costs or water, the company seldom wet the debris down enough to keep dust levels tolerable. We were under tremendous pressure to hurry, and hurry even faster.

As soon as we got off the elevator going down into the mine, we would get an immediate headache caused by the dust, smoke and gases that we were breathing. They kept a quart jar of aspirin at the station and we would take 6 or 7 tablets at a time, several times each shift. The only way we could survive down there was by taking the aspirin. The quart jar was replaced on a daily basis.

After a test was conducted, we would go into our "recovery" dig. We would drive a tunnel into the area of the test and, on top of the usual exposure to dust, smoke and gases, we would accumulate radiation doses and work in hot conditions. The amount of exposure was so high that workers were only allowed to work a total of three days there for the entire year. After working the three days, we were then sent back to our regular work assignments. However, some workers were afraid of being laid off and would purposely remove their film badges to return and continue the work.

One night coming back from working in the tunnels something happened. They never did tell us what happened if there was a radiation leak or not, but on the company bus ride back from the Test Site at Area 12, they made us all get off the bus and shower in the open air. They gave us beer to drink and told us it would hopefully wash out any radiation from our bodies. A lot of those guys are dead now.

We knew of the importance of this work but were never informed of the long-term risks to our own health. For some the risk might be cancer from radiation, for others it might be silicosis, or chronic beryllium disease, and for others still it might be a combination of two or more of these deadly illnesses. This much is sure - the quality and length of our lives has been irrevocably changed. For me, my activity level has been reduced significantly and I have to rest a lot. There's no known treatment for what I am going through except for using oxygen during the latter stages of the illness.

It is clear now, from records that have been discovered and released, that Reynolds Electric and Engineering Company clearly knew of the risks we faced. The company even knew that some workers had contracted diseases but remained silent about it. They chose instead to allow these workers to go back into the tunnels and be subject to further exposures.

I went to work for REECO at the Test Site about the same time as my cousin, David Eddards, and my best friend, Henry Peluaga. All three of us underwent periodic medical tests by physicians hired by and under the direction of REECO. It wasn't until we underwent the screening in 1998, by the doctors from Boston and San Francisco Universities, that we were given access to our medical records from those REECO tests. My cousin David discovered in 1998 that REECO knew that he had silicosis some thirty years ago but never told him about it. I have documentation of this here with me. Today, all three of us know we have the disease.

I belong to a retiree group that meets each month for breakfast. There is hardly a month that goes by where we don't learn of another colleague who has been diagnosed with an illness we know is related to our work. You can tell when someone's illness is getting worse because they come to the breakfast wheeling an oxygen tank. There is hardly a month that goes by where we don't find that another of our group is in the hospital or has died.

I can't emphasize enough the immense frustration and despair felt by those of us who worked on these projects. Many of us, like myself, have to seek medical care from the Veterans Administration for our illnesses. Some try to get coverage under Medicare. In almost all cases there have been substantial costs that we, or our families, have borne. Some have come close to or have exhausted their life savings. Most of us have chosen not to file workers' compensation claims in Nevada because of direct experience with being denied with previous claims or being ignored when we tried. We all know of other workers who have been treated poorly by the state system.

The problems that I have described today are not new or unknown to you. I am here today because the Congress finally has a chance to reach out to help my brothers and sisters who toiled at great personal risk and sacrifice to make this world safer for all of us.

I congratulate Secretary Richardson and the Department of Energy for finally admitting the responsibility of the Federal Government to the workers who took these risks and made these sacrifices.

I congratulate the members of the Senate who have put together the legislation that addresses this problem - particularly my friends Harry Reid and Dick Bryan. I also thank Representatives Shelley Berkley and Jim Gibbons for their efforts to get this through the House.

I hope this committee will step-up to the plate and support the Thompson-Bingaman Amendment.

Thank you.