For three decades, thousands of Iowa workers toiled in a federal ammunition facility just west of Burlington to help protect America during the Cold War. About 4,000 workers assembled and test-fired nuclear weapons at the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant in Middleton from the late 1940s to the mid-1970s. Another 35,000 worked on conventional weapons lines at the 19,000-acre facility.
Now decades later, many of those former workers are facing radiation-related cancers or illnesses and mounting medical bills as a consequence of their service.
To ensure the federal government keeps its commitments to former nuclear weapons factory workers, Congress passed the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Act of 2000 to establish a means for these Cold War workers who contracted cancer or other serious illnesses the opportunity to file for a lump sum payment of $150,000, and to get assistance from the Energy Department with filing state worker compensation claims.
So far over 22,000 workers, or their relatives, from facilities across the country have sought assistance from the Department of Energy in filing for state workers compensation.
Unfortunately, the lion’s share of the filings has hit a brick wall in the federal bureaucracy. One audit found a seven-year backlog at the agency for handling such cases. It’s an understatement to say the U.S. Energy Department has failed.
As Iowa’s senior senator in the U.S. Senate, I’m not going to allow Uncle Sam to forget what these patriotic Americans did for our country. Starting last year I led an effort to cut through the red tape at the federal bureaucracy.
First, I've worked to ensure that workers at the IAAP have the right to petition to become members of a Special Exposure Cohort. Such a classification would provide a presumption in favor of the worker where it's not feasible to estimate the level of exposure to radiation and there is a reasonable likelihood that the workers were endangered. Earlier this year I sent a bipartisan letter to the Secretary of Health and Human Services to convey mounting frustration with the snail's-paced efforts of the government to issue a final rule outlining eligibility requirements for the special exposure cohorts.
I also worked to transfer responsibility for processing claims to the Department of Labor, which has a far better track record of handling such claims. Unfortunately, my amendment was removed from the final spending bill late last year. I also have personally questioned the Secretary of Energy and requested an audit of the department’s administration of the compensation program.
In March I put the Senate on record in support of expediting and equitably compensating filed claims. My Sense of the Senate Resolution also calls for changes that would improve claims processing and scientific review by physician’s panels, add membership in additional Special Exposure Cohorts and resolve the issues dealing with a lack of a willing payor.
Former employees of the Army munitions factory in Middletown now facing life-threatening heart and lung illnesses worked selflessly to help America prepare for the worst during the Cold War. If these illnesses were caused by exposure to beryllium, radiation or other toxic substances as a result of their service, these workers are eligible for federal compensation.
And I’m going to continue my efforts to see that the federal government is held accountable and Iowans receive the reparation they deserve sooner rather than later.