Howell v. Reno

939 F. Supp. 802, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14250, 1996 WL 549605
CourtDistrict Court, D. Colorado
DecidedSeptember 26, 1996
DocketCivil Action No. 95-B-481
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 939 F. Supp. 802 (Howell v. Reno) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Colorado primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Howell v. Reno, 939 F. Supp. 802, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14250, 1996 WL 549605 (D. Colo. 1996).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

BABCOCK, District Judge.

In this Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA), 42 U.S.C. § 2210 note, section 5, (Supp.1994) action, plaintiffs Norma Howell (Howell), widow of Robert Bert Howell, deceased, and Alfred Eldon Ball (Ball) seek review of defendants’, Janet Reno, U.S. Attorney General, and the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) (collectively, defendants) denial of compensation under RECA. Plaintiffs also challenge certain statutory provisions of RECA as violative of their right to equal protection under the law pursuant to the Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution. I have reviewed plaintiffs’ administrative records and considered the parties’ briefs and oral argument. For the following reasons, I affirm the decisions of the Department of Justice.

I.

A. Howell claim

Plaintiff Norma Howell is the widow of decedent Robert Bert Howell who was bom in 1920. Mr. Howell worked for Union Carbide as an underground uranium miner from 1959 to 1971. Administrative Record (Howell AR) p. A-3; D-49-52. Mr. Howell developed pulmonary fibrosis and, allegedly, lung cancer after age 45. Howell AR p. C-29, 33. Mr. Howell filed his RECA claim on October 27, 1993. He died on April 15, 1994 from cancer. According to defendants, Mr. Howell smoked up to a pack of cigarettes a day for several decades. For purposes of this appeal, plaintiff agrees that Mr. Howell was a cigarette smoker as contemplated by RECA. Pltf.Brf. p. 4. The DOJ denied Mr. Howell’s RECA claim on February 25, 1994 for failing to meet the required levels of radiation exposure. Howell AR C-14-16. Howell’s widow filed an administrative appeal of the denial alleging the unconstitutionality of RECA. Howell AR B-8. On August 29, 1994, the DOJ issued a final order denying Mr. Howell's claim. Howell AR B-9-12. On February 28, 1995, Mrs. Howell filed this action.

B. Ball claim

Ball was born in 1924. He worked in ■underground uranium mines during parts of 1953, 1954, and 1957. Ball Administrative Record (Ball AR) p. 3. Ball was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis after he was 45 years old. Id. On June 15,1994, Ball filed a RECA claim. In support of his claim, Ball indicated that he was a non-smoker. In a letter dated July 28, 1994, the DOJ advised Ball that it had determined that he was a smoker. Ball then submitted an affidavit attesting to the fact that, during his lifetime, he smoked one pack or less per day from December, 1941, to January, 1946. Ball AR p. 13. Ball also submitted a letter from Gerald E. Howe, M.D., confirming his smoking history. The letter also contains Dr. Howe’s opinion that Ball's risk factors for lung disease did not include his past tobacco use, but rather his “intense exposure to dust particles while performing his duties as an uranium miner.” Ball AR p. 181. Finally, Ball submitted a letter from Victor Archer, M.D. which states, in pertinent part:

Smoking ... has not definitely been shown to enhance the fibrogenie potential of ionizing radiation in either man or animals. [804]*804There are some animal studies which suggest an interaction, and others which reported no interaction. However, even if radiation does enhance fibrosis, it is unlikely that it could exert such an effect remote in time. That is, it seems reasonable that both exposures would have to take place at nearly the same time.
If a man had stopped smoking 7 years prior to his radiation exposure, it is unlikely that the smoking would have any influence on the radiation induced fibrosis. In pathology studies, cigarette smoking has been found to induce some pulmonary fibrosis in man, but it is of such a nature that it is rarely seen in human chest films. Most chest physicians believe that smoking alone does not cause sufficient fibrosis to be identified on chest X-rays.

Ball AR p. 182.

On April 7, 1995, the DOJ denied Balls claim after Ball’s working level month (WLM) exposure was recalculated as 473.15 WLMs, 26.85 WLMs less than the 500 WLMs required by RECA. On June 8,1995, Ball filed an administrative appeal of the agency denial which was affirmed on June 30, 1995. Ball filed civil action number 95-AP-1883 in this court on July 26, 1995 challenging the DOJ’s denial of his claim. Pursuant to plaintiffs’ motion, on November 15, 1995, Ball’s case was consolidated with Howell v. Reno, civil action number 95-B-481.

II.

Overview of RECA Statutory and Regulatory Scheme

Congress passed RECA to recognize and compensate for the injuries suffered by victims of this country’s nuclear research and weapons programs. 42 U.S.C. § 2210; section 2(a)(2). RECA authorizes a $100,000 payment to eligible, uranium miners or their survivors who establish that the miner contracted specific respiratory diseases after working in certain underground uranium mines. 42 U.S.C. § 2210 note § 5.

RECA includes the following pertinent findings:

radiation released in underground uranium mines that were providing uranium for the primary use and benefit of the nuclear weapons program of the United States Government exposed miners to large doses of radiation and other airborne hazards in the mine environment that together are presumed to have produced an increased incidence of lung cancer and respiratory diseases among these miners;
the United States should recognize and assume responsibility for the harm done to these individuals; and
the Congress recognizes that the lives and health of uranium miners ... were subjected to increased risk of injury and disease to serve the national security interests of the United States.

42 U.S.C. § 2210, section 2(a)(3-5).

The stated purpose of RECA is “to establish a procedure to make partial restitution to the [exposed] individuals ... for the burdens they have borne for the Nation as a whole.” Id. at section 2(b).

Eligibility for the RECA payment is determined in the following manner:

[a]ny individual who was employed in a uranium mine located in Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Wyoming, or Utah at any time during the period beginning on January 1, 1947, and ending on December 31, 1971, and who, in the course of such employment — •
(1)(A) if a nonsmoker, was exposed to 200 or more working level months of radiation [WLMs] and submits written medical documentation that he or she, after such exposure, developed lung cancer; or
(B) if a smoker, was exposed to 300 or more [WLMs] and cancer incidence occurred before age 45 or was exposed to 500 [WLMs], regardless of age of cancer incidence, and submits written medical documentation that he or she, after such exposure, developed lung cancer; or
(2)(A) if a nonsmoker, was exposed to 200 or more [WLMs] and submits written medical documentation that he or she, after such exposure, developed a nonmalignant respiratory disease; or

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
939 F. Supp. 802, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14250, 1996 WL 549605, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/howell-v-reno-cod-1996.