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"The U.S. Department of Labor will visit Livermore, Calif., on June 29 and Emeryville, Calif., on June 30 to present information about the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act, which provides compensation and medical benefits to employees who became ill as a result of working in the nuclear weapons industry. Through town hall meetings, officials will present details about two new classes of former employees at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory recently added to the EEOICPA's Special Exposure Cohort, as well as provide an overview of the program. The Labor Department's California Resource Center staff will also be available at the town hall meetings for extended periods of time to assist individuals with the filing of claims under the EEOICPA. A worker who is included in a designated SEC class of employees, and who is diagnosed with one of 22 specified cancers, may receive a presumption of causation under the EEOICPA. On April 5, 2010, the secretary of health and human services designated the following two classes of employees as additions to the SEC: all employees of the Department of Energy, its predecessor agencies, and their contractors and subcontractors, who worked at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, Calif., from Jan. 1, 1950, through Dec. 31, 1973, and at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, Calif., from Aug. 13, 1942, through Dec. 31, 1961, for at least 250 workdays occurring either solely under this employment or in combination with workdays within other classes of employees in the SEC. Both designations became effective on May 5, 2010. As the Department of Health and Human Services determines and introduces new SEC classes into the EEOICPA claims process, the Labor Department's role is to adjudicate these claims based on the new SEC class definition. To date, more than $118 million in compensation and medical bills have been paid to 1,0

"U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin has officially asked the Department of Labor to reopen the medical compensation claim of Michael Fellinger, a former Ames Laboratory worker who died of lung disease in 2008, most likely caused by exposure to radiation as part of his work. U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin (Lauren Victoria Burke/WDCPIX.COM) In a June 28 letter addressed to Shelby Hallmark, the director of the Office of Worker's Compensation Programs with the Department of Labor, Harkin requested the case - which has been denied by the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program - be reopened and sent to an independent third party for review."

"The U.S. Department of Labor has announced that a new class of nuclear weapons workers from plants located in California and New Jersey have been added to the Special Exposure Cohort of the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act (EEOICPA), which provides compensation and medical benefits to workers who became ill as a result of working in the nuclear weapons industry. Survivors of qualified workers may also be entitled to benefits. All former Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory employees who worked at the Berkeley, Calif., site between Aug. 13, 1942, and Dec. 31, 1961, as well as former Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory employees who worked at the Livermore, Calif., site between Jan. 1, 1950, and Dec. 31, 1973, have been added to the Special Exposure Cohort. In addition, former Westinghouse Electric Corp. employees who worked at the Bloomfield, N.J., site between Aug. 13, 1942, and Dec. 31, 1949, are included. "

An extensive federal report released in November concludes that roughly one in four of the 697,000 U.S. veterans of the 1990-91 Gulf War suffer from Gulf War illness. Advertisement GWI is a condition now identified as the likely consequence of exposure to toxic chemicals, including pesticides and a drug administered by the military to protect troops against nerve gas. The 452-page report states that "scientific evidence leaves no question that Gulf War illness is a real condition with real causes and serious consequences for affected veterans." The report, compiled by a panel of scientific experts and veterans serving on the congressionally mandated Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans' Illnesses, fails to identify any cure for the malady. It also notes that few veterans afflicted with GWI have recovered over time.

The U.S. Department of Labor today announced that it has paid more than $4.5 billion to 48,072 individuals under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act (EEOICPA). The EEOICPA provides compensation and medical benefits to employees who became ill as a result of working in the atomic weapons industry. "We got this program up and running in eight months by July 31, 2001, and I'm very proud that the department has processed more than $4.5 billion in benefits to workers and their families efficiently and with compassion," said Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao.

Terrie Barrie of the Alliance of Nuclear Worker Advocacy Groups passed along a link for an OMB assessment of the Energy Employees Occupational Illnesss Compensation Program. It's part of ExpectMore.gov. The program's overall grade was "Adequate," with scores of 60 percent for program purpose and design; 50 percent for strategic planning; 86 percent for program management; and 53 percent for program results/accountability. The review was done in 2007. Here's the link. The Government Accountability Office is currently conducting an assessment of the compensation program, which has been dogged by criticism and controversy.

Professional Case Management of Tennessee held town hall meetings Thursday at the American Museum of Science and Energy to share information with federal workers about its program and other related sick-worker issues. Professional Case Management is a Department of Labor-enrolled provider of home nursing to chronically ill nuclear workers. PCM recently opened an office in Oak Ridge and is currently serving 30 Oak Ridge residents who are eligible for care under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act (EEOICPA).

Local workers who may have earned illnesses dating back to the Cold War were able to learn more about possible compensation Wednesday and Thursday. The U.S. Department of Labor visited Pittsburg, to provide information about a new class of former employees at Spencer Chemical Co./Jayhawk Works recently added to the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act's (EEOICPA) Special Exposure Cohort (SEC). The department's Traveling Resource Center staff was also available to assist individuals with filing claims under the EEOICPA.

Arbitrary and capricious actions by the Department of Labor have led to claims by ill workers at Hanford and other nuclear sites being improperly denied or decisions delayed, a former claims examiner with the Department of Labor said Thursday. "This program is not claimant friendly," said attorney Anne Block. "You've got people more interested in keeping their jobs than helping claimants." She was at the open house before Hanford's annual Tri-City State of the Site meeting to discuss problems she saw with the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program.

Yesterday, a House panel held an oversight hearing concerning Labor Secretary Elaine Chao's proposal to change the way the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Mine Safety and Health Administration calculate on-the-job risks. Occupational health advocates and good government groups, such as OMB Watch, oppose the controversial rule. However, Bush officials are aggressively pushing the new policy through the rulemaking pipeline.

Two Colorado congressmen want the investigative arm of Congress to scrutinize the way the U.S. Department of Labor is handling claims of sick nuclear weapons workers. Democrats Mark Udall and Ed Perlmutter say they will call today for an investigation by the Government Accountability Office, an independent, nonpartisan agency that investigates how the federal government spends taxpayer dollars.

Officials at the U.S. Department of Labor say recent stories in the Rocky Mountain News "paint an inaccurate picture" of the program to compensate Cold War-era workers who became sick while building the nation's nuclear arsenal and "indict the entire program based on a small number of individual claimants' experiences." The comments came in letters to three U.S. congressmen who had asked the Labor Department why it failed to respond to the findings of a Rocky investigation published last month in a special report called "Deadly Denial."

The Rocky Mountain News responds to Department of Labor letters sent to Congressmen Mark Udall and Ed Perlmutter of Colorado and Tom Udall of New Mexico. The congressmen initially wrote to labor officials about the department's failure to respond to the Rocky's Deadly Denial series.

Forty-five days after the Rocky's Laura Frank sent the Department of Labor the findings of our 'Deadly Denial' series for comment, she finally received a response - an e-mail apparently sent at 9:41 p.m. Friday night that can only be described as a personal attack.

Two Colorado congressmen say it was "completely irresponsible" for the Department of Labor to fail to explain decisions that make it more difficult for sick and dying nuclear weapons workers - or their survivors - to qualify for federal compensation. This week, the Rocky Mountain News reported that the Labor Department, which oversees the program, derailed aid to workers by keeping reports secret from them, constantly changing rules and delaying cases until sick workers died.

The U.S. Department of Labor, if you can believe it, refused to talk to Rocky Mountain News reporter Laura Frank during the investigation that led to this week's series Deadly Denial - her description of grotesque red tape and foot-dragging inflicted upon those who once built nuclear arms for this country and who have been struck down since with terrible diseases.

A congressional leader pledged yesterday to introduce legislation that would block an eleventh-hour proposal by the Labor Department that would make it more difficult to limit workers' exposure to chemicals on the job.

They built the nuclear weapons that helped win World War II and the Cold War. When the nation's future depended on them, they stood firm. Now where is their government when they need its help?

Executives at the U.S. Department of Labor are apparently happy with the operation of the program to compensate sick nuclear weapons workers. More than $3.2 million in bonuses has been paid to those administering the program since it started in 2001. That doesn't include any bonuses that may have been paid to people working on the program in other agencies, including the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health or the U.S. Department of Energy.