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the record who you are.

MR. JERNIGAN: I'm Charles Jernigan. I
manage the screening program for the building and
construction trade here in Augusta, And just to
comment on your question as to whether it would be
helpful or not, we've been doing these screenings
for about five years now, and we struggle through
these interviews trying to help people remember,
and it is a -- a young guy can come in, he
remembers what he did two years ago or five years
ago. But like Mr. Rocque said, a lot of these
people are getting up in age and a lot of them are
75, 80 years old. And to ask them what they did
in 1951, it’s a mystery to them.

Those interviews can be helpful because we do
an in-depth interview, and we really do all we can
to help them remember. And they do remember more
than what they think they can, once we get to
talking to them. But it is very hard to get those
people to remember where they worked, even the
years. Sometimes they’re four, five years off
from when they think they work out there. But as
a general rule, we do get some good information in
those interviews that probably would be helpful to

you,

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MR. MILLER: I’m Richard Miller with the
Government Accountability Project and I am not
with the government.

MR. HILLS: I'm Warren Hills, Sr., president
of the Georgia/South Carolina district council,
business manager for the laborers local 1137 here
in Augusta, secretary/treasurer for the South
Carolina building trades.

MR. MORGAN: I am Benyoel Morgan, president
of lecal 527 of transport workers union.

MR. WILLIAMS: Larry Williams, U.S.
Department of Labor, from Jacksonville, Florida.
MR. LAWSON: Howard Lawson, Y-12 plant,
electrician and also the atomic trades and labor
council, health and safety representative. And

also the representative for X-10.

MR. ANFIELD: My name’s Isaiah Anfield. I'm
a former employee at duPont and [I’m a member of
local 1137, general mason'’s local union, and I
have a personal injury.

MS. DIMUZIO: I’m Martha DeMuzio. I‘m Erom
NIOSH.

MS. MAIER: Hilda Maier, Nuclear Test
Personnel Program.

MS. DAVIS: I'm Allison Davis with NIOSH.

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completed after three years. It is unbelievable,
incanceivable that DOE has burdened these members
with the long slow process of just providing -- or
just proving employment. We know for a fact that
DOE has medical, dose and security records that go
back to 1951. DOE should have to produce that
information.

Mr. Chairman, our members have stopped filing
claims because they don’t believe in or trust the
program. To get them to file claims, they need to
know that the program is for them and the program
is real.

Again, Mr. Chairman, we ask you for justice.
We ask you to put our members in a special cohort,
and I thank you for listening. Thank you for your
time.

DR. ZIEMER: Thank you very much, Mr. Rocque.
We generally allow the Beard members, if they
wish, to ask any questions, and if you’re
agreeable -- they may not have any, but if they
do, give them the opportunity to ask anything of
Mr. Rocque at this point. Yes, Richard Espinosa.

MR. ESPINOSA: On the SRS site, about how
many building and constructors work on the site on

a day-to-day basis?

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members of the committee. I bring you greetings
of welcome to Augusta on behalf of T.S.
Yarborough, business manager of local 1579 and
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers,
and also the president of Augusta building and
construction trades council, I apologize for Mr.
Yarborough’s absence, as he is at home
recuperating from surgery.

My name is Dennis Rocque, and I’m the
organizer from local 1579 of the International
Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and also
secretary/treasurer of the Augusta building and
construction trades council. [It is in this
Capacity that I am here tonight. Our case is also
on behalf of the South Carolina building and
construction trades council. It is my
understanding that this Board is responsible for
teviewing the dose reconstruction program that is
part of the radiation compensation program. I
wish to thank you for your cooperation and your
commitment at the request of national building and
trades for, first, holding meetings near DOE
sites, and secondly for having this session in the
evening, which enables workers and their survivors

to come and ask questions or express their

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192

MR. FRANSON: I’m Bill Franson. I'm the
district director for the Jacksonville district
office, U.S. Department of Labor.

MR. KOTSCH: I‘m Jeff Kotsch, the health
physicist with the DOL energy program.

MR. HENSHAW: Hi, I‘m Russ Henshaw. I’m an
epidemiologist with NIOSH in Cincinnati.

DR. HOFFMAN: I'm Owen Hoffman. I'm
president of SENES Oak Ridge, Incorporated. We're
the consulting firm that has developed tho
Interactive RadioEpidemiological Program that
calculates probability of causation.

DR. NETON: I’m Jim Neton. I’m with NIOSH in
Cincinnati,

DR. ZIEMER: Cori?

MS. HOMER: I'm Cori Homer and I’m with NIOSH
Atlanta.

DR. ZIEMER: Okay. Thank you very much. We
appreciate everyone being here.

PUBLIC COMMENT

We're going to begin with Dennis -- is it
Roecque? Just Rocque, R-o-c-q-u-e, Rocque. Okay.
I‘m going to put the mike up here, Dennis, if
you'd come on forward.

MR. ROCQUE: Good evening, Mr. Chairman, and

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or accurate. Construction workers didn’t recail
details of their employment on the site, or can’t
recall, and the survivors can‘t be expected to do
this, either. Look at what SRS is. As you know,
people were drilled -- it was drilled in workers’
heads that you didn’t talk about what you did out
there. On top of that, we have dangerous work,
and you don’t want to go home and tell your
families what you do every day and have them worry
for eight, ten, 12 hours a day.

Construction workers -- it’s a tough life, as
you know, and for these reasons we think that our
members and survivors need much more assistance
with the claims they process. They need someone
who understands construction to give that
assistance. They're either elderly workers with
cancer or their survivors. Either way, they are
mostly old and frail.

Mr. Chairman, it is for these reasons we
think construction workers should be included in
the special cohort, which is a special section of
the law that covers workers with radiation
expasure but lack adequate monitoring records.

The program is taking too long. Over 15,000

claims have been filed and less than 1,500

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And so as we open it for public comment
tonight, again, the Board is not here necessarily
to answer questions you might have on your case or
a case you might be involved in. In fact, we
can’t do that in a public forum. We are here to
listen. I£ you have concerns about the process or
observations or things of that sort that will help
us as we move forward, that -- that’s the sort of
thing we would like to hear. So you are free to
tell us what you wish. And as I say, it’s a --
it’s a comment period as opposed to a Q and A,
question and answer, period. We’re primarily here
to listen.

If you do have specific issues that may need
to be raised with the Agencies -- Department of
Labor, Department of Health and Human Services --
those can be brought to them and your answers to
those kinds of questions could be individually
handled by staff later, or we can relay them on.

Now let me -- with those sort of preliminary
comments, I’m going to open the floor, and those
that do have comments to make, we do ask you to
approach the mike here. A public transcript is
kept of these proceedings so our public recorder

here needs to be able to hear through is phones

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MR. ROCQUE: Yes, sir.

DR. MELIUS: -- here for that? And is the
kind of history and the information that comes
from that program, is that something you think
could be useful in providing a better description
of your work out there and activities?

MR. ROCQUE: I think that it would be, yes.

DR. MELIUS: I know it’s real hard to, you
know, figure out what you did and what people --
where they worked and so forth out there --

MR. ROCQUE: Right.

DR. MELIUS: -- and NIOSH is -- sort of has
to do one interview for everybody, and -- and if
we could get something more focused, and I‘m just
wondering if that -- that kind of a -- tools
they've developed and the questionnaires or
something you think better gets at what kind of
work you did and what, you know, your members were
exposed to.

MR. ROCQUE: I mean it could be helpful, but
you know, from my experience, I worked out there
for 12 years, and I couldn’t tell you every place
that I worked, every area. I couldn’t tell you
every test that I performed. And you know, when

you get up there and -- 60 years old, 65 years

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MR. ROCQUE: Well, I mean it -- today, I
don’t -- I don't know. I don’t have the exact
figures today because they’re laying off -- 700,

B00.

MR. ESPINOSA: Ukay, what about --

MR. ROCQUE: We have had as many in the early
eighties as just 1,200 electricians out there
alone, so I mean it -- 2,000, 3,000, 4,000.

MR. ESPINOSA: What about with IBEW?

MR. ROCQUE: With TARW today we have probably
somewhere in the vicinity of about 200.

UNIDENTIFIED: (Inaudible)

DR. ZIEMER: Yes, you'll need to approach a
mike, sir. Identify yourself for the record,
please, again.

MR. ANFIELD: My name is Isaiah Anfield and
I'm a former employee of E.I.DuPont back in the
eighties, and at the present right now I have a
medical problem and I just want to know what -- I
mean what y’all doing, going to wait on me to die
or what? That’s all I got to say.

DR. ZIEMER: Okay. Thank you. Other
comments or questions? Yes, Jim.

DR. MELIUS: You're familiar with the

screening program

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concerns.

Mr. Chairman, not only does the national
building and construction trades have a stake in
this program, we in Augusta have a very big stake.
There have been 37,000 construction workers at
Savannah River Site with potential radiation
exposure. We‘re not here asking for charity.
We're here asking you for justice, the justice
working men and women so adamantly deserve. We
don’t just want a program, we want one that is
fair and consistent and timely. This can only be
achieved by making special considerations for
construction workers. Let’s not kid ourselves.
We all know the individual dose reconstruction
program does not work for construction workers.

Look at the life of our members. They are
employed intermittently. They are on and off the
site. They work for subcontractors, and when they
are on the site they work all over the place. No
two construction workers are alike in what they
do.

We know through experience at SRS. Our
members had experiences with very high exposures
that were not properly monitored. Radiation

monitoring and dose recording was not systematic

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DR. MAURO: John Mauro. I'm a health
physicist with Sanford Cohen & Associates.

MR. ROESSLER: ['‘m Chuck Roessler. I'm an
interested health physicist.

MS. TOOHEY: Beverly Toohey, Oak Ridge,
Tennessee.

DR. TOOHEY: Dick Toohey, Oak Ridge
Associated Universities. I'm the project director
for the dose reconstruction contract with NIOSH.

MS. HOMOKI: Zee Homoki, Aiken, South
Carolina.

MR. HOMOKI: Stove Homoki, Aiken, South
Carolina.

MS. WASHINGTON: Grace Washington, North
Augusta.

MR. TURCIC: Pete Turcic. I’m the director
of the Energy Employees Compensation for the
Department of Labor.

MS. MILLER: I’m Kay Miller, I’m a previous
employee with DOE, Savannah River Site.

MS. GANTZ: Julie Gantz from Augusta, and I’m
a former employee of Westinghouse, Savannah River
Site.

DR. UTTERBACK: I’m David Utterback. I'm

with NIOSH in Cincinnati, Ohio.

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DR. MELIUS: Can I just ask you a follow-up
question? Have you ever, as part of that program,
done any work looking at employment records or,
you know, other exposure information records that
might -- does that help any more or is that just -

MR. JERNIGAN: We don’t have access to any
records.

DR. MELIUS: Okay.

MR. JERNIGAN: All we get is what the
individual can remember. And if he has anything
personally that he wants to bring in with him, now
we look at that. But as far as having access to
records from DOE or from the plant, we have no
access to that. We have to pretty much rely on
what he -- he can remember.

DR. ZIEMER: Any other follow-up -- yes,
Richard, please.

MR. ESPINOSA: I know within my local union
-- it's not a question, it’s more of a comment.
Within my local union dealing with the retirees
throughout the sheet metal workers, as well as
building trades, you know, my -- the retirees with
my local can tell me how to build an ogee offset

just out of memory, but they can’t remember the

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—— ———— ——— —— —<=— —— ——— oe

189

Labor Council, here as a representative from
Fernald, Ohio.

MR. CALLOWAY: I'm Allen Calloway, vice
president of the Fernald Council.

MR. ROWE: Gordon Rowe, construction
electrician from 1579 in Augusta, Georgia.

MR. ROCQUE: Dennis Rocque, construction
electrician, IBEW 1579 here in Augusta and also
secretary/treasurer of Augusta building and
trades.

MR. JERNIGAN: Charles Jernigan, manager for
the Augusta building and trades medical screening
program in Augusta, Georgia.

MR. BEARD: Morris Beard, construction
electrician, Augusta, Georgia; Local 1579 and
training director for the CSRA electrical JATC,
also with the Augusta building trades.

MR. KATZ: Ted Katz, and I work -- I work for
NIOSH.

MR. WARREN: Bob Warren. I'm a lawyer from
Black Mountain, North Carolina.

MR. MILLER: Steve Miller, assistant business
manager for the IBEW.

MR. HUTCHISON: Johnny Hutchison, IBEW

electricians organizer for local union 1579.

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what you are saying. So --

Oh, one other thing. Before we do that, it's
been requested that we find out who is here
tonight, and so I’m going to move into the
audience here. This is not "What’s My Line" or --
but I’m going to start passing the wike around
here. Just introdu-- tell us who you are, if you
represent a -- some -- some of the people are I
know Feds and represent agencies. You can -- if
you're willing to admit it -- tell what agency
you're with. But otherwise, identify yourself and
where you're from. Don’t take tao -- this is not
the public comment period.

MR. NESVET: Hi --

DR. ZIEMER: And you can pass it on down.

MR. NESVET: -- I'm Jeff Nesvet. I’m the
Associate Solicitor for Federal Employees and
Energy Workers Compensation at the Office of
Solicitor for the Department of Labor.

MR. NAIMON: David Naimon with the Department
of Health and Human Services.

MS. HOMOKI-TITUS: Liz Titus with the
Department of Health and Human Services.

MR. BEATTY: My name is Ray Beatty. I'm a

representative from the Fernald Atomic Trades and

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old, you -- you certainly don’t remember. And
like I said, even -- when these folks are dead and
gone, you have families that won‘t even know what
they did out there, you know, It was just a
mystery. All they know is you -- my daddy worked
at the bomb plant. My mother worked at the bomb
plant. That's -- nobody talks about it. So you
know, even -- even with that, can you go back and
reconstruct -- trying to say, it may be helpful,
but I doubt it

DR. MELIUS: Thank you.

DR. ZIEMER: Thank you very much, Dennis, we
appreciate your --

MR. ROCQUE: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

DR. ZIEMER: -- input to the Board. Now I
have no other names on my list, and I don’t -- I
know that you don't want me to sit here and tell
wy favorite attorney jokes and so on, so I’m jusr
going to open the floor and ask, even if you
didn’t sign up, you now have an opportunity to --
to say anything you wish.

UNIDENTIFIED: (Inaudible)

DR. ZIEMER: Again, we do need to have you
use the mike in order to be able to record this,

so if you don’t mind, you’ll need to identify for

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