Jun, 21, 2007 14:23AM

No. 0254 PF.

Office of United States Senator

CHARLES E.SCHUMER

SENATE

Albany

Leo O'Brien Building
Room 420

Albany NY 12207
(518) 431-4070

(S18) 431-4076/fax

New York

757 Third Avenue
Suite 1702

New York NY 10017
(212) 486-4430

(212) 486-7693/fax

To: Mr faut 4 itannta

Binghamton

Federal Office Building
Room B6
Binghamton NY 13901
(607) 772-8109

(607) 772-8124/fax

Rochester

100 State Street
Room 3040
Rochester NY 14614
(716) 263-5866
(716) 263-3173/fax

SENATOR FOR NEW YORK STATE

Buffalo Hudson Valley Long Island
130 South Elmwood One Park Place 14S Pine Lawn Road
Avenue, Suite 660 Suite 100 Two Greenway
Buffalo NY 14202 Peekskill NY 10566 Melville NY 11747
(716) 846-4111 (914) 734-1532 (631) 753-0978
(716) 846-4113/fax (914) 734-1673/fax (631) 753-0994/fax
Syracuse Washington
100 South Clinton Street’ 313 Hart Senate
Room 841 Office Building
Syracuse NY 1326] Washington DC 20510
(315) 423-547] (202) 224-6542
(315) 423-5 185/fax (202) 228-0525/fax

FAX TRANSMISSION

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Worker Health

FAX: (SIDS 533 - OR2b

FROM: Stn. Schuma'r DC ofhitr,

PAGES: _3

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DATE: 6faijot

COMMENTS: .

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Staff eontact:

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(202) 2a4- 6542 Ce)
(202) 228-0525 (1)

Thank pou.



Jun. 21,

2007 11:23AM No. 0254 P

CHARLES E, SCHUMER
NEWYORK

Wnited States Senate

WASHINGTON, DC 20510

June 21, 2007

Mr. Paul L. Ziemer
Chairman, Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health

National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health
Office of Compensation, Analysis, and Support
4676 Columbia Parkway, MS C-46

Cincinnati, OH 45226

Dear Mr. Ziemer:

lam writing to ask that when the Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health
convenes next month, it rule that the Energy Employees Occupational IlIness
Compensation Program Act (EEOJCPA) not use proxy data in reconstructing doses.
Instead, I urge you to declare a Special Exposure Cohort (SEC) for employees whose
doses would have to be reconstructed with approximated data. Using proxy data has
proven inaccurate, and many men and women have been denied compensation for their
cancers when the government cannot be sufficiently certain that it is not the cause. The
practice of using other facilities’ information when reconstructing doses simply punishes
nuclear workers for the government’s errors.

I have requested in the past that you approve the pending SEC application for the
employees of Bethlehem Steel, and I ask that if you cannot abolish the use of proxy data
in all cases, you at least declare an SEC in the most extreme cases, such as that of
Bethlehem Steel. The National Institute of Occupational Health and Safety (NIOSH) has
long known that the data for exposure of Bethlehem Steel’s former employees are
inadequate. The agency has made a good-faith effort to do accurate dose reconstructions
using the proxy of Simonds Saw and Steel Company in Lockport, NY. However, the
Simonds data cannot provide a sufficiently accurate approximation of the conditions at
Bethlehem Steel. The Bethlehem records do not include workers’ length of employment,
their locations in the mill, or their duties, let alone details such as the radiation levels in
various parts of the plant, the level of uranium powder in the air, or any other critical
metrics that are necessary for a valid dose reconstruction. Accurately replicating all of
these factors by using the conditions at Simonds is not possible.

In light of last Tuesday’s ruling to create an SEC for employees of the Rocky Flats
facility in Colorado, I respectfully request that you make the same classification for all
men and women who have been exposed to unknowable conditions. Tuesday’s ruling
was a very good decision, and the time has come for NIOSH do the same for Bethlehem

workers.

2

‘COMMITTEES:

BANKING
JUDICIARY
RULES:
FINANCE

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Jun 21. 2007 11:23AM “No 0254 PF. 3

In fact, there is even more cause to create an SEC for Bethlehem workers. Whereas the
employees at Rocky Flats were granted an SEC because of incomplete figures regarding
their exposure to neutrons, all of the information regarding exposure of every type and
length and intensity is absent for Bethlehem Steel’s employees. If Rocky Flats merits an
SEC, Bethlehem Steel most certainly does.

I urge you to apply that same rationale for an SEC for all of the ill and aging former
employees of the Department of Energy. J appreciate your timely attention to this urgent
matter and I look forward to your written response. If you have any questions, please do
not hesitate to contact my staff, Sarah Bermingham, at (202) 224-6542.

Sincerely,

CO pavek Seohum

Charles E, Schumer