OWCP News Release: [04/25/2011]
Contact Name: Jesse Lawder Enrique Chaurand

Phone Number: (202) 693-4659 (202) 693-4679
Email Address: lawder.jesse@dol.gov chaurand.enrique@dol.gov
Release Number: 11-0580-KAN

US Department of Labor notifies former Missouri nuclear weapons workers of potential eligibility for benefits under energy workers compensation program

WASHINGTON —The U.S. Department of Labor is notifying individuals who formerly worked at five facilities located in Missouri about benefits that may be available to them under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act administered by the department’s Division of Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation. Survivors of qualified workers may also be entitled to benefits.

Former employees of the following sites may be eligible if they worked at the facility during a period of covered employment: St. Louis Airport Storage Site, Medart Co. and Tyson Valley Powder Farm, all located in St. Louis; Roger Iron Co. in Joplin; and Latty Avenue Properties in Hazelwood.

The department urges all potentially eligible former workers and their survivors to contact the DEEOIC’s Paducah Resource Center at 866-534-0599 or visit the DEEOIC’s website at http://www.dol.gov/owcp/energy.

On July 31, 2001, the Labor Department began administering Part B of the EEOICPA. Part B covers current and former workers who have been diagnosed with cancer, beryllium disease or silicosis, and whose illness was caused by exposure to radiation, beryllium or silica while working directly for the U.S. Department of Energy, that department’s contractors or subcontractors, a designated Atomic Weapons Employer or a beryllium vendor. Individuals or their survivors found eligible under Part B may receive a lump sum compensation payment of $150,000 and medical expenses for their covered conditions.

Part E, created by an amendment to the EEOICPA on Oct. 28, 2004, and also administered by the Labor Department, provides federal compensation and medical benefits to DOE contractors and subcontractors who worked at covered facilities during a covered time period and sustained an illness as a result of exposure to toxic substances.

DOE provides records and data about workers and facilities to the Labor Department to support the department’s administration of the EEOICPA. In addition, DOE maintains a list of facilities covered under the EEOICPA, which is periodically updated and published in the Federal Register. DOE also maintains the searchable Covered Facility Database, which contains additional information pertaining to each of the facilities, including years of activity and an overview of the type of work performed there. The database is online at http://www.hss.energy.gov/healthsafety/fwsp/advocacy/faclist/findfacility.cfm.

It is the Labor Department’s goal to disseminate information concerning EEOICPA benefits to potentially eligible claimants across the country. To aid in this effort, the department maintains 11 resource centers nationwide to provide in-person and telephone-based assistance to individuals regardless of where they live. To date, the department has delivered more than $143.6 million to eligible individuals living in Missouri, and more than $6.9 billion nationwide, in compensation and medical benefits.

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