Herald News - Decision Delay May Mot Be a Bad Thing

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Herald News - Decision Delay May Mot Be a Bad Thing

Blockson Workers' Advocates

Herald News: By BOB OKON

A federal board last week again delayed a decision on claims for compensation from workers at the old Blockson Chemical plant in Joliet.

But advocates for those workers don't see the latest delay as necessarily a bad thing.
The claims are part of an eight-year-old program initiated at the end of the Clinton administration to compensate workers who contracted cancer from working at nuclear weapons plants during the Cold War.

The old Blockson plant processed phosphorous for soap and detergents. The plant also extracted uranium from the phosphorous for use in nuclear weapons.

The Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health is considering a petition that would grant $150,000 plus medical benefits to employees who worked at Blockson from 1951
through 1962 -- or to their survivors.

The board at one time was to make a decision on the petition, called a special cohort petition, in January. But that vote was delayed again last week when two board members raised questions about methods being used to determine whether cancer cases could be linked to chemical exposure at the Blockson plant, said an aide from Sen. Barack Obama's office who was at the board meeting in Tampa, Fla.

But the board also permitted 91 Blockson claims that were previously denied to be recalculated.

Obama's office issued a statement from the senator Friday supporting the decision to recalculate the previously rejected claims.

"If it is possible for some of those who did not previously qualify for compensation to now qualify, then we should start that process immediately so deserving claimants don't have to wait any longer," Obama said in the statement.

Many claimants or their survivors have been waiting several years for a final answer on whether they will receive compensation.

"We're disappointed that it hasn't been resolved yet," said Dennis J. Kellogg, a Chicago attorney representing about 20 claimants. However, Kellogg added, he was encouraged by reports that two board members were concerned about methods used to deny claims.
"That," he said, "means they're questioning their methodology and results."

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