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Wednesday, 04 November 2009 14:59
DRIEHAUS INTRODUCES LEGISLATION TO SUPPORT FORMER NUCLEAR ENERGY WORKERS AT FERNALD AND PIQUA

Bill Would Make Former Workers at Ohio Nuclear Sites Eligible for Occupational Illness-Related Compensation and Health Benefits

WASHINGTON, DC—Representative Steve Driehaus has introduced legislation that would improve the compensation and health benefits available to former nuclear energy workers at the Fernald, Ohio and Piqua, Ohio energy sites. The bill would make it easier for Cold War-era nuclear workers at these sites to receive benefits through the U.S. Department of Labor’s Division of Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation (DEEOIC) program.

The legislation was first introduced in the United States Senate by Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH).

“Energy workers who have become sick working at government facilities should have access to the benefits and resources they need.  Just as we care for our veterans and military retirees, we cannot turn our backs on these men and women who put themselves at risk in service to our country,” said Rep. Driehaus. “I’m proud to offer this legislation and I applaud Senator Brown for his leadership on this important issue.”

“Former energy workers battling cancer should not have to struggle to receive the benefits to which they are entitled,” Senator Brown said. “This bill would cut through the red tape to enable the former workers at the Fernald and Piqua sites and their survivors to receive critical compensation and health benefits.”

This legislation amends the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act (EEOICPA) to designate the Feed Materials Production Center in Fernald, Ohio and the Piqua Organic Moderated Reactor in Piqua, Ohio as Special Exposure Cohorts (SEC). Special Exposure Cohort status was created so that workers diagnosed with specifics cancers and their survivors would not be denied benefits due to incomplete information regarding levels of exposure.

As of October 1, 2009 the EEOICPA has provided more than $427 million to former nuclear workers in the state of Ohio. SEC status has been granted to certain workers at the USEC Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Portsmouth, Ohio, the Harshaw Harvard-Denison Plant in Cleveland, Ohio, and the Monsanto Chemical Company in Dayton, Ohio.

More than 1,900 workers from the Piqua and Fernald sites have already applied for benefits through the EEOICPA.

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