2010 Press Releases

Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program

January 13, 2012

Beginning in the early 1940s, the Department of Energy and its predecessors, the Atomic Energy Commission and the Manhattan Engineering District, relied upon hundreds of private-sector factories and laboratories to develop, test, and produce atomic weapons for use by the military. During the atomic weapons production process, these facilities became contaminated with radioactive materials. Recognizing that workers at these facilities may be suffering from illness caused by their work, Congress passed the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act (EEOICPA).

Part B of the EEIOCP was enacted to provide compensation to workers with beryllium disease, silicosis, or radiation induced cancer. Employees or their survivors, whose claims are approved, may receive a lump-sum payment of $150,000 and medical benefits for the covered illness. In October 2004, Congress amended the EEOICP with Part E, which provides compensation and medical benefits for DOE contractor and subcontractor employees whose illness were caused by exposure to any toxic substance while working at a DOE facility. Eligible survivors may receive federal compensation, if the employee's death was caused or contributed to by the covered occupational illness.

There are 10 sites in and around the 28th Congressional District of Western New York that qualify under the EEOICP:

Ashland Oil, Tonawanda

Bethlehem Steel, Lackawanna

Bliss & Laughlin Steel, Buffalo

Carborundum Company, Niagara Falls

Hooker Electrochemical, Niagara Falls

Lake Ontario Ordnance Work, Niagara Falls

Linde Air Products, Buffalo

Linde Ceramics Plant, Tonawanda

Titanium Alloys Manufacturing, Niagara Falls

University of Rochester Atomic Energy Project, Rochester

Rep. Slaughter has been working to address this issue for many years and continues to fight hard for her constituents who were employed under the atomic workers program. Rep. Slaughter introduced an amendment to H.R. 4200, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2005. This amendment allowed individuals to apply for benefits under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Act if they developed covered illnesses and worked at facilities that the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has found the potential for significant residual contamination. Additionally, this amendment required NIOSH to update the residual contamination report in 2005, 2006, and 2007 for sites where NIOSH has indicated it lacked sufficient information to reach conclusions. Rep. Slaughter was very pleased when this amendment was incorporated into the bill and became law on October 28, 2004.

Rep. Slaughter also supported the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act which was passed in October 2000, as part of H.R. 4205, the Defense Authorization bill. It included a Subtitle D which authorized the Department of Energy (DOE) to provide assistance to DOE contractor employees filing state worker compensation claims for illnesses arising out of exposure to toxic substances and other hazardous materials at a covered DOE facility. With passage of this bill, constituents in New York's 28th district who were not directly hired by DOE but instead contractors were able to apply for compensation.

In 2005, Rep. Slaughter called on NIOSH to release the site profile for the Linde Ceramics Plant and meet with workers from the Plant. NIOSH had said that the Linde Ceramics site profile would be completed by November 30, 2004. Four months later, these constituents were still waiting. After pressuring NIOSH, we finally saw the first draft site profile in the spring of 2005.

Rep. Slaughter also pressed the Administration numerous times to grant Linde special exposure cohort (SEC) status, and at the end of 2005, and she is pleased to report that they did designate SEC status for workers at Linde between October 1942 and October 1947. This designation is expected to affect about 80 former employees.

Early in 2007, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) failed to provide enough funding for NIOSH to revise and implement an up-to-date site profile for the former Linde Ceramics Plant. An independent audit during the summer of 2006 concluded that NIOSH's initial site profile of Linde Ceramics was severely flawed and needed to be altered. Former Linde Workers will continue to be incorrectly denied compensation for the carcinogens they were exposed to until NIOSH develops an adequate site profile which would allow for an accurate assessment of exposure through dose reconstruction. After meeting with the auditors, Rep. Slaughter called on the Director of CDC to sufficiently fund NIOSH's efforts to revise and update the site profile. In November of 2007, CDC responded that the Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health has created a working group to review the Linde Ceramics site profile and make any changes necessary to eliminate its flaws. Rep. Slaughter will continue to put pressure on NIOSH to prepare a fair and accurate site profile that allows former workers to receive the compensation they deserve.

Rep. Slaughter joined with her colleagues from Western NY to ask NIOSH to address many concerns that have been raised by those seeking compensation. In December of 2007, she joined Senators Schumer and Clinton, along with Reps. Higgins and Reynolds, in a letter Larry Elliot, Director of NIOSH. This letter asked him to thoroughly address evidence that raised questions about the time period during which uranium was rolled at Bethlehem Steel, as well as the type of material that was rolled at the plant.

Additionally, on January 29, 2008, Rep. Slaughter joined Senators Clinton and Schumer in a letter to Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao, in response to the Department of Labor's decision to re-designate four buildings at Linde Ceramics. This re-designation from an Atomic Weapons Employer facility to a Department of Energy facility would prevent many of Linde's former workers from even applying for compensation. This was an unprecedented action by the Department of Labor and threatens to set a dangerous precedent of preventing former atomic workers from even applying for compensation. In our letter, the delegation demanded that NIOSH explain why they decided to consider this re-designation, the justification for re-designating these buildings and not other similar buildings, and finally we asked for information on how this decision could be appealed. Due to these efforts, in April of 2008 the Department of Labor decided to rescind the re-designation decision and allow all residual radiation workers coverage under Part B.

Rep. Slaughter asked for the help of the House Committee on Education and Labor in investigating the problems with the application of EEOICP, and the failure to adequately compensate those as guaranteed under law. On December 20, 2007 Rep. Slaughter joined Reps. Higgins and Reynolds in a letter to Education and Labor Chairman George Miller, asking him to hold a hearing to investigate the claims of nuclear workers in Western NY. Specifically, they asked that the Committee investigate the difficulties being faced by workers from Bethlehem Steel and their families in applying for and receiving compensations. They also asked that the Committee look into the Department of Labor's decision to re-designate the four buildings at Linde Ceramics.

In 2009, Rep. Slaughter, in partnership with Lewiston Town Supervisor Fred Newlin, secured $1340,000 for the Town of Lewiston to remove public safety hazards from the former Lake Ontario Ordnance Works Waste Water Treatment Plant. This funding will go towards the removal of asbestos containing materials, demolition of unsafe structures, and installation of protective grates, barriers, and signs, disposing of debris, and collecting. It will also fund the analysis of environmental samples to determine the presence of chemical and radiological contaminants in the water and sludge within open pits and vaults.

In addition to these actions, Rep. Slaughter and her staff are in constant contact with constituents and NIOSH following up on claims.

Environment

January 13, 2012

The U.S. cannot wait any longer to address global warming. That is why Rep. Slaughter was proud to vote for H.R. 2454, the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (ACES) during the 111th Congress. By investing $190 billion in clean, renewable energy and energy efficiency, ACES would boost our economic security and national security while protecting our environment and saving Americans money.

Rep. Slaughter is proud to co-chair the bipartisan Great Lakes Task Force. The Task Force advocates for policies and programs that restore and clean up the Great Lakes. Louise has been a tireless advocate for the Great Lakes, fighting for investment not only in restoration and cleanup but also in combating invasive species – most recently Asian carp. She is an original co-sponsor of H.R. 4755, the Great Lakes Ecosystem Protection Act (S. 3073). This bill authorizes the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI), a comprehensive multi-billion dollar, multi-year plan for the Great Lakes begun during the Obama Administration. The bill would also reauthorize the Great Lakes Legacy program, increasing its authorized funding to $150 million/year, and reauthorize the Great Lakes National Program Office.

In the wake of the disaster with the BP Deepwater Horizon drilling platform, Rep. Slaughter led her colleagues in demanding that the Department of Interior and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement take immediate action to address serious allegations raised by a BP consultant-turned-whistleblower concerning the safety of the BP Atlantis platform. In light of the whistleblower's allegations, the BP Atlantis has been widely warned of as the next possible Deepwater Horizon. On July 21, 2010, Rep. Slaughter led a letter with 17 of her colleagues to Secretary Ken Salazar and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Director Michael Bromwich expressing concern about the pace at which the Department of the Interior has acted on tips provided by the whistleblower, Ken Abbott. The letter further urged the Department to immediately order a halt to operations at the Atlantis platform pending an investigation, to immediately interview Mr. Abbott (a step the Department had not yet taken, amazingly), and to conduct a check of the specific deficiencies alleged by the whistleblower (which the Department had also not yet appeared to have done).

On July 30, 2010, Rep. Slaughter ushered through the Rules Committee H.R. 3534, the Consolidated Land, Energy, and Aquatic Resources (CLEAR) Act. The bill passed the House by a vote of 209 to 193. The CLEAR Act provides new safety standards for offshore drilling, abolishes the Minerals Management Service and establishing in its place an agency structured to avoid the conflict of interest that helped keep MMS from doing its job, and closes royalty loopholes, including those that allow companies to pay zero royalties during times of high oil prices.

Along with the CLEAR Act, the Rules Committee advanced H.R. 5851, the Offshore Oil and Gas Worker Whistleblower Protection Act. The bill passed the House by a vote of 315 to 93. The legislation prohibits an employer from discharging or otherwise discriminating against employees who report violations of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) and provides whistleblowers and workers who refuse to engage in unsafe activities a number of other protections.

The Rules Committee also ensured that the House reached an agreement with the Senate on H.R. 146, the Omnibus Public Land Management Act, perhaps the most significant conservation measure to be enacted by Congress in the last 15 years. This package of more than 160 individual public lands bills permanently codified the National Landscape Conservation System; created two million new acres of wilderness across nine states; established three new national park units; designated 1,000 miles of wild and scenic rivers; designated a National Monument and three National Conservation Areas; protected world-class hunting land in the Wyoming Range; and recognized new Historic Sites and Heritage Areas. The final version of the bill passed the House 285 to 140 on March 25, 2009 and President Obama signed it into law on March 30, 2009.

Rep. Slaughter was also a cosponsor of H.R. 2766, the Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals (FRAC) Act of 2009. The FRAC Act would repeal the Bush-era exemptions from restrictions on underground injection of fluids near drinking water sources granted to hydraulic fracturing operations and require oil and gas companies to disclose the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing operations. Louise feels that hydraulic fracturing – such as the drilling in our region over the Marcellus Shale – needs to be put on hold until there is further study of the health and environmental effects of the chemicals it puts into the ground and into our drinking water.

Energy

January 13, 2012

It is critical that the United States makes a sustained commitment to expanding renewable energy production. Our dependence on foreign sources of oil is propping up unfriendly regimes in the Middle East, degrading our environment and contributing to climate change.

In the 111th Congress, Louise was proud to vote for H.R. 2454, the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (ACES). By investing $190 billion in clean, renewable energy and energy efficiency, ACES would boost our economic security and national security while protecting our environment and saving Americans money.

According to a World Resources Institute analysis, ACES would slash climate change pollution by 2,265 million metric tons in the year 2020 alone. And, through creation of a Renewable Electricity Standard that would encourage investment in homegrown renewable energy sources such as wind, biomass, solar, geothermal, and hydropower, ACES would boost our economy by unlocking billions in industry investment and serve as a major job creator. One recent study concluded it would create 1.7 million new clean energy jobs.

ACES would strongly promote the use of electric vehicles and boost American manufacturing by leveling the playing field with China and India, who have pledged to have electric cars on the American market in the near future. It would also require large utilities to develop plans to support electric vehicles, authorize financial assistance for retooling factories and integration of grid-connected vehicles, and increase production loan guarantees.

As Chair of the House Rules Committee during the 11th Congress, Congresswoman Slaughter ushered through the House a number of other important bills relating to energy and the environment. For example, in response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the Rules Committee under Louise's leadership sent to the House floor H.R. 3534, the Consolidated Land, Energy, and Aquatic Resources (CLEAR) Act. The CLEAR Act would provide new safety standards for offshore drilling, abolish the Minerals Management Service and establish in its place an agency structured to avoid the conflict of interest that helped keep MMS from doing its job, and close royalty loopholes, including those that allow companies to pay zero royalties during times of high oil prices.

Restoring and Protecting the Great Lakes

January 12, 2012

Lakes Erie, Huron, Michigan, Ontario and Superior contain more than 90 percent of North America's fresh surface water. Combined, they supply drinking water to more than 35 million people. What's more, millions of people benefit from the commerce and business that depend on the waters of the Great Lakes. The Lakes are not only a prized natural resource, but also a significant economic engine for New York and the United States.

Rep. Slaughter is a co-chair of the Congressional Great Lakes Task Force, a bipartisan working group within the Northeast-Midwest Congressional and Senate Coalitions. Members of the Great Lakes Task Force cooperate to restore the economic and environmental health of the Great Lakes.

Rep. Slaughter has been a tireless advocate for the Great Lakes. Over the last several years, Rep. Slaughter has been focused on three major issues that have a profound impact on the Great Lakes and the surrounding communities. The threat of Asian Carp as well as the threats posed by the discharge of ballast water have profound impacts on the environmental health of the Great Lakes. In addition to working to address these issues, Rep. Slaughter has been an advocate for improving port maintanence, and revitalizing the shipping industry on the Great Lakes.

Asian Carp

Rep. Slaughter is an original cosponsor of H.R. 892, the Stop Asian Carp Act. This legislation requires the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to create an action plan to permanently separate Lake Michigan from the Chicago Area Waterway System, where experts believe Asian Carp could enter and cause irreparable harm to the Great Lakes. Creation of the plan must begin within 30 days of the bill's enactment, and the Army Corps must send a progress report to Congress and the President within six months and again in 12 months. The full plan must be completed and given to Congress and the President 18 months after the bill is enacted. It will be monitored by the Council on Environmental Quality to ensure its thorough and timely completion.

On February 3, 2011, Rep. Slaughter was the lead author of a letter signed by 23 Members of Congress and 6 Senators from the Great Lakes Task Force. The letter was addressed to Jo-Ellen Darcy, Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works, requesting that the Army Corps of Engineers utilize findings from a Great Lakes Commission study on ecological separation to accelerate their own study on ecological separation known as the Great Lakes Mississippi River Interbasin Study (GLMRIS).

On June 29, 2010, Rep. Slaughter joined 27 of Members of Congress in writing a letter to President Obama urging the immediate strengthening of the barrier meant to keep the invasive species out of the Great Lakes and urging for the pursuit of an aggressive strategy for permanent hydrologic separation between the Great Lakes and the waterways linked to the Mississippi River, where Asian carp have taken over in recent decades.

Additionally, on December 17, 2009 Rep. Slaughter joined 49 of my colleagues in writing a letter to four federal agencies urging they take immediate steps to protect the Great Lakes and from Asian carp including (1) closing the O'Brien and Chicago Locks if there is reasonable likelihood that Asian carp are above the electric barrier; (2) continuing the use of piscicides as a rapid response measure; (3) creating a permanent hydrologic separation between the Great Lakes and the canal; (4) increasing the voltage of the electric dispersal barrier to prevent Asian carp of any size from crossing the barrier; and (5) implementing the recommendations of the Asian Carp Rapid Response Project.

Ballast Water

Ballast water is a serious matter with far reaching implications for this nation. Each minute, 40,000 gallons of ballast water containing thousands of foreign bacteria, viruses, animals and plants, are discharged into U.S. waters. That’s 21 billion gallons of ballast water annually. Once introduced, invasive species are exceedingly difficult to control, and often impossible to eradicate. The U.S. spends billions of dollars every year trying to contain and eradicate invasive species and the Aquatic Nuisance Species (ANS) Task Force, an interagency committee established by the Non-indigenous Aquatic Nuisance Prevention and Control Act of 1990, estimates that 15 recent introductions of invasive species could cost the U.S. $134 billion alone by 2050.

Under current law, the EPA and the Coast Guard are responsible for issuing federal guidelines for the discharge of ballast water. The EPA is set to release new requirements by the end of the month while the Coast Guard is in the final stages of establishing national discharge regulations. However, these standards do not preempt the right of the states to impose additional standards in light of increased threats, and act as a floor for regulatory efforts, not a ceiling.

In Congress, Rep. Slaughter strongly supports removing Title VII from H.R. 2838, the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act of 2011. Title VII would establish a nationwide Ballast Water Discharge standard that preempts the authority of States to provide additional ballast water discharge regulations under the Clean Water Act.

On November 4, 2011, during consideration of H.R. 2838, Rep. Slaughter introduced an amendment, along with Representative John Dingell of Michigan, to strike Title VII from H.R. 2838. Unfortunately, this amendment failed 161 to 237. However it did receive bi-partisan support and sent a clear message to the rest of Congress that this issue is too important to include in a non-controversial measure such as the reauthorization of the Coast Guard.

In addition, Rep. Slaughter recently sent a letter to the United States Coast Guard asking that it issue its proposed Ballast Water Discharge Standards (BWDS) for the Great Lakes as soon as possible. These regulations were originally scheduled to be published in December of 2010. The Coast Guard needs to finalize and issue BWDS as soon as possible to reduce uncertainty among commercial stakeholders and put in place lasting protections for our nation’s valuable waterways.

Dredging & Short Sea Shipping

In 1985, Congress created the Harbor Maintenance Tax (HMT), a 0.125 percent tax assessed on the value of imported and domestic cargo handled at ports to help pay the dredging and maintenance costs for our nation’s federally maintained ports. The HMT has been extremely effective in raising revenue, but has not been adequately spent on maintaining our nation's ports. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the HMT will raise over $1.3 billion in revenues in 2011, yet only $790 million will be spent on dredging and maintenance functions this year. The remaining funds will be deposited in the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund (HMTF), which currently has a balance of $6.4 billion and is expected to grow to over $20 billion by 2021 based on current projections.

Rep. Slaughter is very concerned with the growing disparity between receipts and expenditures from the HMT. This revenue is vitally important to keeping our ports open and retaining the jobs and industry that rely on these vital hubs of commerce. Our nation’s ports and harbors are currently suffering from a severe lack of maintenance, threatening the economic livelihoods of the communities that depend on them at a time when our economy is struggling to rebound.

To address this issue, Rep. Slaughter has cosponsored H.R. 104, The RAMP Act. This legislation would require that all revenue received from the HMT be spent just how Congress intended it to be; on dredging and operations and maintenance for federally maintained harbors. This legislation is cost neutral and enjoys broad bipartisan support among members.

Additionally, in November of last year, Rep. Slaughter was the lead author on a letter signed by 20 Members of Congress. The letter was addressed to the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee urging the committee to mark up and pass the RAMP Act so that it could be brought to the House floor for final passage. The bi-partisan letter featured 10 Republicans and 10 Democrats equally committed to seeing this legislation enacted into law.

Rep. Slaughter is also committed to revitalizing shipping on the Great Lakes in order to encourage job creation and economic growth in the region. She is a cosponsor of H.R. 1533, the Short Sea Shipping Act of 2011. This legislation would exempt non-bulk commercial cargo that is loaded at a port in the U.S. and unloaded at another port in the U.S. from the Harbor Maintenance Tax. Exemption of this tax would encourage more domestic shipping, help remove more cargo off of our nation’s congested highways, and reduce air pollution generated by trucking and rail transportation.

Great Lakes Restoration Initiative

In addition the issues above, Rep. Slaughter supports the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI). GLRI is an interagency effort to target the most significant problems in the Great Lakes region, including invasive aquatic species, non-point source pollution, and contaminated sediment. GLRI is using outcome-oriented performance goals and measures to target the most significant problems and track progress in addressing them. Through GLRI, EPA and other Federal agencies will coordinate State, tribal, local, and industry to protect, maintain, and restore the chemical, biological, and physical integrity of the Great Lakes. Rep. Slaughter has spoken out in favor of fully funding GLRI at $300 million in fiscal year 2012, and similar levels in future years, adding up to billions of dollars of investment in the Great Lakes over the life of the program.

Slaughter Champions New Protections Against Military Sexual Assault

December 22, 2010

WASHINGTON – Congresswoman Louise Slaughter (NY-28), Chairwoman of the House Rules Committee, today successfully championed protections for military personnel as part of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

Said Congresswoman Slaughter, “I am pleased that military personnel will receive increased protections against the dangers of sexual assault. We must ensure that there is zero tolerance for sexual assault in the military. As our service members selflessly serve our country every day, we must ensure a professional and safe operating environment.”