Providing Compensation to America's Nuclear Weapons Workers

Executive Order 13179 of December 7, 2000

Providing Compensation to America's Nuclear
Weapons Workers

By the authority vested in me as President by the
Constitution and the laws of the United States of
America, including Public Law 106-398, the Energy
Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act
of 2000 (Public Law 106-398, the “Act”), and to
allocate the responsibilities imposed by that
legislation and to provide for further legislative
efforts, it is hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1. Policy. Since World War II, hundreds of
thousands of men and women have served their Nation in
building its nuclear defense. In the course of their
work, they overcame previously unimagined scientific
and technical challenges. Thousands of these courageous
Americans, however, paid a high price for their
service, developing disabling or fatal illnesses as a
result of exposure to beryllium, ionizing radiation,
and other hazards unique to nuclear weapons production
and testing. Too often, these workers were neither
adequately protected from, nor informed of, the
occupational hazards to which they were exposed.

Existing workers' compensation programs have failed to
provide for the needs of these workers and their
families. Federal workers' compensation programs have
generally not included these workers. Further, because
of long latency periods, the uniqueness of the hazards
to which they were exposed, and inadequate exposure
data, many of these individuals have been unable to
obtain State workers' compensation benefits. This
problem has been exacerbated by the past policy of the
Department of Energy (DOE) and its predecessors of
encouraging and assisting DOE contractors in opposing
the claims of workers who sought those benefits. This
policy has recently been reversed.

While the Nation can never fully repay these workers or
their families, they deserve recognition and
compensation for their sacrifices. Since the
Administration's historic announcement in July of 1999
that it intended to compensate DOE nuclear weapons
workers who suffered occupational illnesses as a result
of exposure to the unique hazards in building the
Nation's nuclear defense, it has been the policy of
this Administration to support fair and timely
compensation for these workers and their survivors. The
Federal Government should provide necessary information
and otherwise help employees of the DOE or its
contractors determine if their illnesses are associated
with conditions of their nuclear weapons-related work;
it should provide workers and their survivors with all
pertinent and available information necessary for
evaluating and processing claims; and it should ensure
that this program minimizes the administrative burden
on workers and their survivors, and respects their
dignity and privacy. This order sets out agency
responsibilities to accomplish these goals, building on
the Administration's articulated principles and the
framework set forth in the Energy Employees
Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000.
The Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services,
and Energy shall be responsible for developing and
implementing actions under the Act to compensate these
workers and their families in a manner that is
compassionate, fair, and timely. Other Federal
agencies, as appropriate, shall assist in this effort.

Sec. 2. Designation of Responsibilities for
Administering the Energy Employees' Occupational
Illness Compensation Program (“Program”).

    (a) Secretary of Labor. The Secretary of Labor
shall have primary responsibility for administering the
Program. Specifically, the Secretary shall:

 (i) Administer and decide all questions arising under
the Act not assigned to other agencies by the Act or by
this order, including determining the eligibility of
individuals

with covered occupational illnesses and their survivors
and adjudicating claims for compensation and benefits;

 (ii) No later than May 31, 2001, promulgate
regulations for the administration of the Program,
except for functions assigned to other agencies
pursuant to the Act or this order;

 (iii) No later than July 31, 2001, ensure the
availability, in paper and electronic format, of forms
necessary for making claims under the Program; and

 (iv) Develop informational materials, in coordination
with the Secretary of Energy and the Secretary of
Health and Human Services, to help potential claimants
understand the Program and the application process, and
provide these materials to individuals upon request and
to the Secretary of Energy and the Attorney General for
dissemination to potentially eligible individuals.

    (b) Secretary of Health and Human Services. The
Secretary of Health and Human Services shall:

 (i) No later than May 31, 2001, promulgate regulations
establishing:

 (A) guidelines, pursuant to section 3623(c) of the
Act, to assess the likelihood that an individual with
cancer sustained the cancer in the performance of duty
at a Department of Energy facility or an atomic weapons
employer facility, as defined by the Act; and

 (B) methods, pursuant to section 3623(d) of the Act,
for arriving at and providing reasonable estimates of
the radiation doses received by individuals applying
for assistance under this program for whom there are
inadequate records of radiation exposure;

 (ii) In accordance with procedures developed by the
Secretary of Health and Human Services, consider and
issue determinations on petitions by classes of
employees to be treated as members of the Special
Exposure Cohort;

 (iii) With the assistance of the Secretary of Energy,
apply the methods promulgated under subsection
(b)(i)(B) to estimate the radiation doses received by
individuals applying for assistance;

 (iv) Upon request from the Secretary of Energy,
appoint members for a physician panel or panels to
consider individual workers' compensation claims as
part of the Worker Assistance Program under the process
established pursuant to subsection (c)(v); and

 (v) Provide the Advisory Board established under
section 4 of this order with administrative services,
funds, facilities, staff, and other necessary support
services and perform the administrative functions of
the President under the Federal Advisory Committee Act,
as amended (5 U.S.C. App.), with respect to the
Advisory Board.

    (c) Secretary of Energy. The Secretary of Energy
shall:

 (i) Provide the Secretary of Health and Human Services
and the Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health
access, in accordance with law, to all relevant
information pertaining to worker exposures, including
access to restricted data, and any other technical
assistance needed to carry out their responsibilities
under subsection (b)(ii) and section 4(b),
respectively.

 (ii) Upon request from the Secretary of Health and
Human Services or the Secretary of Labor, and as
permitted by law, require a DOE contractor,
subcontractor, or

designated beryllium vendor, pursuant to section
3631(c) of the Act, to provide information relevant to
a claim under this Program;

 (iii) Identify and notify potentially eligible
individuals of the availability of compensation under
the Program;

 (iv) Designate, pursuant to sections 3621(4)(B) and
3622 of the Act, atomic weapons employers and additions

to the list of designated beryllium vendors;

 (v) Pursuant to Subtitle D of the Act, negotiate
agreements with the chief executive officer of each
State in which there is a DOE facility, and other
States as appropriate, to provide assistance to a DOE
contractor employee on filing a State workers'
compensation system claim, and establish a Worker
Assistance Program to help individuals whose illness is
related to employment in the DOE's nuclear weapons
complex, or the individual's survivor if the individual
is deceased, in applying for State workers'
compensation benefits. This assistance shall include:

 (1) Submittal of reasonable claims to a physician
panel, appointed by the Secretary of Health and Human
Services and administered by the Secretary of Energy,
under procedures established by the Secretary of
Energy, for determination of whether the individual's
illness or death arose out of and in the course of
employment by the DOE or its contractors and exposure
to a toxic substance at a DOE facility; and

 (2) For cases determined by the physician panel and
the Secretary of Energy under section 3661(d) and (e)
of the Act to have arisen out of and in the course of
employment by the DOE or its contractors and exposure
to a toxic substance at a DOE facility, provide
assistance to the individual in filing for workers'
compensation benefits. The Secretary shall not contest
these claims and, to the extent permitted by law, shall
direct a DOE contractor who employed the applicant not
to contest the claim;

 (vi) Report on the Worker Assistance Program by making
publicly available on at least an annual basis claims-
related data, including the number of claims filed, the
number of illnesses found to be related to work at a
DOE

facility, job location and description, and number of
successful State workers' compensation claims awarded;
and

 (vii) No later than January 15, 2001, publish in the
Federal Register a list of atomic weapons employer
facilities within the meaning of section 3621(5) of the
Act, Department of Energy employer facilities within
the meaning of section 3621(12) of the Act, and a list
of facilities owned and operated by a beryllium vendor,
within the meaning of section 3621(6) of the Act.

    (d) Attorney General. The Attorney General shall:

 (i) Develop procedures to notify, to the extent
possible, each claimant (or the survivor of that
claimant if deceased) whose claim for compensation
under section 5 of the Radiation Exposure Compensation
Act has been or is approved by the Department of
Justice, of the availability of supplemental
compensation and benefits under the Energy Employees
Occupational Illness Compensation Program;

 (ii) Identify and notify eligible covered uranium
employees or their survivors of the availability of
supplemental compensation under the Program; and

 (iii) Upon request by the Secretary of Labor, provide
information needed to adjudicate the claim of a covered
uranium employee under this Program.

Sec. 3. Establishment of Interagency Working Group.

    (a) There is hereby established an Interagency
Working Group to be composed of representatives from
the Office of Management and Budget, the National
Economic Council, and the Departments of Labor, Energy,
Health and Human Services, and Justice.

    (b) The Working Group shall:

 (i) By January 1, 2001, develop a legislative proposal
to ensure the Program's fairness and efficiency,
including provisions to assure adequate administrative
resources and swift dispute resolution; and

 (ii) Address any impediments to timely and coordinated
Program implementation.

Sec. 4. Establishment of Advisory Board on Radiation
and Worker Health.

    (a) Pursuant to Public Law 106-398, there is hereby
established an Advisory Board on Radiation and Health
(Advisory Board). The Advisory Board shall consist of
no more than 20 members to be appointed by the
President. Members shall include affected workers and
their representatives, and representatives from
scientific and medical communities. The President shall
designate a Chair for the Board among its members.
    (b) The Advisory Board shall:

 (i) Advise the Secretary of Health and Human Services
on the development of guidelines under section 2(b)(i)
of this order;

 (ii) Advise the Secretary of Health and Human Services
on the scientific validity and quality of dose
reconstruction efforts performed for this Program; and

 (iii) Upon request by the Secretary of Health and
Human Services, advise the Secretary on whether there
is a class of employees at any Department of Energy
facility who were exposed to radiation but for whom it
is not feasible to estimate their radiation dose, and
on whether there is a reasonable likelihood that such
radiation dose may have endangered the health of
members of the class.

Sec. 5. Reporting Requirements. The Secretaries of
Labor, Health and Human Services, and Energy shall, as
part of their annual budget submissions, report to the
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on their
activities under this Program, including total
expenditures related to benefits and program
administration. They shall also report to the OMB, no
later than March 1, 2001, on the manner in which they
will carry out their respective responsibilities under
the Act and this order. This report shall include,
among other things, a description of the administrative
structure established within their agencies to
implement the Act and this order. In addition, the
Secretary of Labor shall annually report on the total
number and types of claims for which compensation was
considered and other data pertinent to evaluating the
Federal Government's performance fulfilling the
requirements of the Act and this order.

Sec. 6. Administration and Judicial Review. (a) This
Executive Order shall be carried out subject to the
availability of appropriations, and to the extent
permitted by law.

    (b) This Executive Order does not create any right
or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at
law or equity by a party against the United States, its
agencies, its officers or employees, or any other
person.

    (Presidential Sig.)

THE WHITE HOUSE,

     December 7, 2000.