Uranium workers getting on-site assistance from gov't

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http://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerque/stories/2007/12/31/daily13.html

The U.S. Department of Labor's Traveling Resource Center will visit Shiprock, N.M., and Kayenta, Ariz., this month to help individuals interested in filing claims under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act (EEOICPA).

The act authorizes compensation and medical benefits to employees who became ill as a result of working in the nuclear weapons industry. It also authorizes benefits for surviving family members of deceased workers.

Part E of the EEOICPA authorizes compensation for uranium workers, millers and ore transporters for illnesses that are linked to toxic substance exposure at workplace facilities covered by the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, said Shelby Hallmark, director of the Office of Workers' Compensation Programs, in a news release.

"The Labor Department wants to make an extra effort to be accessible to the Navajo community, so we're taking the Traveling Resource Center to Arizona and New Mexico, where a large part of the Navajo Nation extends," Hallmark said. "We had a tremendous response to a recent town hall meeting in Shiprock, and this prompted us to return with more hands-on assistance for residents there and in Kayenta."

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