Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee:

I am honored to present my observations before the Committee concerning "Amending the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) of 1990."

I am a licensed investigator from Durango, Colorado. Beginning as early as 1993, RECA claimants from all over the country began bringing their denied compensation claims to me asking for help. I received requests from all three categories of radiation victims: On-site Participants, Downwinders and Uranium Miners. Claimants' requests varied from locating missing medical records to missing relatives. However, the majority of requests came from Uranium Miners who needed help to prove their underground mining work history. This in turn would demonstrate that they had enough radiation exposure to qualify for compensation under RECA.

No compensation plan is perfect but after reviewing nearly 500 claims I have concluded that there is one area of the RECA, if corrected, could go a long way to fulfilling the original intent of Congress. This has to do with the radon gas exposure level requirements which is measured in working level months (WLMs). The WLM requirements in the current RECA are set too high and, therefore, cause a high number of meritorious claims to be denied. As you know, 500 WLMs is the exposure figure required to compensate a lung cancer victim over the age of 45. Through my small office alone, I am aware of 103 uranium miners with lung cancer who have a WLM calculation of less than 500 WLMs but they are no less deserving of compensation.

I personally believe the Department of Justice (DOJ) has done a commendable job given the fact that records that establish underground mining work history and radon levels are either incomplete or non-existent. Unfortunately, because of the absence of actual individual work histories and actual radon sample records from all mines in all years, the DOJ has been forced to rely almost solely on Social Security Detailed Earnings records ("SS Records") and the NIOSH database to calculate WLM exposure. These records alone do not give an accurate picture of a miner's actual exposure or time spent underground. For example, in the case of the independent lessors who mined for room and board or bartered their underground labor for food or a pickup truck so they could go into business for themselves - there will be no SS Records for them. The NIOSH database has even more disturbing problems.

Let me give you a couple of examples to demonstrate what I mean because the concept of exposure calculations can be confusing. Below is a portion of SS Records belonging to one of my clients. This miner worked for six full years for Union Carbide (1963 -1968). However, because SS has a cap on the amount of money to be paid into the fund, the last quarter in 1963, 1965. 1966 and 1967 are blank since the cap was met in the first three quarters; in 1964 the cap was met in just a six-month period so the 3rd and the 4th quarters are blank. However, I believe DOJ interprets this record as actual time worked and will, therefore, deny this miner any exposure whatsoever for those quarters that are blank. UNION CARBIDE CORPORATION 39 OLD RIDGEBURY RD DANBURY, CT 06810-5108 1 2 3 4 1963 1,793.06 1,943.74 1,063.20 $ 4,800.00 1964 2,361.71 2,438.29 $ 4,800.00 1965 2,224.87 2.502.55 72.58 $ 4,800.00 1966 2,588.51 2,635.72 1,375.77 $ 6,600.00 1967 2,877.72 2,791.96 930.32 $ 6,600.00 1968 2,325.13 2.370.33 2.345.50 759.04 $ 7,800.00

Another example that illustrates the effect of relying just on SS Records concerns a denied claim out of Utah. This family brought their denied claim to me saying that DOJ had calculated an exposure of only 51 WLMs. The family refused to accept this and asked me to review my records. I learned early on not to rely entirely on SS and NIOSH records to prove exposure I also utilize records from the Atomic Energy Commission, Department of Energy, engineering and mining colleges at major universities, western historical libraries, state and national archives, state mine inspectors, mining books and publications printed in the boom years, old class action suits and old workers compensation cases filed in the 1960s just to name a few. I prepared a new work history; the claim was re-filed; and DOJ came back with a new calculation of 338 WLMs - 287 WLMs were completely missed in the original filing.

The NIOSH database presents another kind of problem. First, according to Professional Mining Engineer, Vern Bishop, who took actual radon samples in Union Carbide mines and worked with NIOSH when they began establishing their database, Union Carbide was voluntarily ventilating their mines to prevent the buildup of other poisonous mine gases. Therefore, Mr. Bishop's radon samples would tend to be quite low compared to the mines of other companies who were not ventilating. However, because Union Carbide was one of the first large companies to begin collecting radon samples, NIOSH asked for and included these low samples into their database. Because samples were not being taken in other mines and therefore do not exist in the NIOSH database, it is my understanding that DOJ will apply these available low radon levels to mines belonging to other companies simply because "those mines were in close proximity to the Union Carbide mines."

Another fact that RECA does not consider is that there were no radon samples taken in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Therefore, it is difficult for DOJ to calculate an accurate WLM when no radon samples exist. Although the need for setting radon standards was discussed as early as 1955, inspection and enforcement came later. New Mexico began enforcement in 1958; Colorado in 1962; and Utah finally began enforcement in 1967 only after Secretary of Labor Willard Wirtz announced the first federally enforceable standard for radon in mines that supplied the federal government. Good dependable radon readings did not exist before enforcement began. For example, in October 1958, the surgeon general of the Public Health Service wrote, "Although we do not have complete environmental measurements in all mines, it appears that about 1,500 men in some 300 mines are working in uncontrolled or poorly controlled environments. The median level of alpha emitters in the mines of one state is five times the recommended working level, and in some mines the level is exceeded by more than 50 times....." (Final Report of Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments, Chapter 12, Page 573).

Because there are no radon samples available prior to the enforcement years and because the current RECA forces DOJ to calculate an exposure figure, DOJ has no choice but to apply available radon levels taken in mines after enforcement began to the same mines for years prior to enforcement. What is even more frustrating is that when no radon levels exists whatsoever for a certain mine, DOJ has had to adopt a method of using the radon levels from the mine nearest to the mine in question or averaging the radon levels from other mines owned by the same company. It is a well known fact that radon gas levels can change hour to hour in the same mine and can differ greatly from stope to stope within the same mine.

These are just a few examples of the problems I have encountered in reviewing claims but I would be happy to elaborate in further detail the various problems involved in calculating or estimating WLMs upon request. However, to correct these various problems, I would recommend that the RECA be amended by lowering the WLMs required to compensate ill uranium miners. Because no one seems to be able to agree on what that figure should be, I would urge the committee to follow the recommendations of the highly respected Dr. John Samet of John Hopkins University. As an alternative, and to me a more common sense approach, would be to compensate on the basis of time spent underground in uranium mines regardless of the WLM exposure, say one or two years.

I would also like to address the issue of compensating other uranium industry workers. In January of this year, I along with others organized public meetings in Nucla, CO and Moab, UT for miners and other uranium industry workers. I personally had been receiving an alarming increase in the number of telephone calls from uranium millworkers, core drillers and ore haulers with severe respiratory diseases and lung cancer. Although there are a significant number of solid medical and scientific studies available on lung diseases in uranium miners, very few studies have been conducted on the other uranium industry workers. Those that have been done merely conclude that further research must be completed before definite findings can be made. My research shows that the illnesses complained of among these workers do warrant further evaluation by respected medical and scientific professionals.

In summary, I propose amending the RECA on two counts. Lower the WLM requirements to reflect what is now known in the medical and scientific community 2. Allocate appropriate funding to study the other uranium industry workers. When sound medical and scientific data are developed as a result of these studies, then Congress can take appropriate action to further amend RECA.

Thank you. I'll be happy to answer any questions at any time on any of the above material. I can be contacted in Durango at 970-259-5353.