Paducah workers are compensated

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

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Reaping the benefits

With its claims success, the Labor Department awaits word from Congress 
on taking over a similar but troubled DOE program.

By Joe Walker
Paducah Sun (KY)
July 18, 2004

When Labor Secretary Elaine Chao presented the first check in August 
2001, she never thought a new program would pay $154 million in claims 
over the next three years to sick Paducah nuclear workers and their 
families.

Because the Paducah Energy Employees Compensation Resource Center was 
the first of 10 nationwide established by federal law, there was no way 
of predicting success. The center has accounted for 9 percent of the 
$890 million in compensation and medical benefits paid to 11,300 people 
nationwide.

"I'm very proud of the Paducah resource center," Chao said. "In the last 
three years, they have been highly successful in helping people file 
claims and addressing the issues involved in obtaining medical 
documentation."

Chao visited Paducah to present the first check to Clara Harding, who 
testified before Congress in support of the 2000 law. Her husband, Joe, 
died of cancer more than 20 years earlier, claiming until his last 
breath that his illness was caused by work-related exposure.

Sick workers (or eligible survivors) receive $150,000 and have future 
medical costs paid if they have one of 22 specified radiation-induced 
cancers or chronic beryllium disease. The Paducah center, which has 
filed claims on behalf of more than 5,000 workers or family members, has 
a broad outreach effort through hospitals, doctors and other medical 
providers; civic groups; churches; the media; and labor organizations, 
notably the plant nuclear workers union, known as PACE.

…

for the entire article, see
http://www.paducahsun.com/cgi-bin/view.cgi?/200407/18+0k58_business.html+20040718+business

--
Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
http://www.cpeo.org

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