Idahoans Assured Of Fallout Funds If Due Batt, Craig Say They’ll Back Legislation To Include State Residents If National Cancer Institute Study Means There Are Downwinders With Claims

It would require an act of Congress for Idaho residents to get money from a federal fund that has paid out $207 million so far to people who suffered from Cold War-era nuclear fallout.

Gov. Phil Batt has called on the federal government to investigate after a 14-year National Cancer Institute study revealed Nevada weapons tests sent clouds of ionizing radiation over parts of Idaho.

Under current law, there are no provisions to allow compensation to Idaho victims who face elevated threats of thyroid and other cancers because of the fallout. Only residents of Nevada, Utah and Arizona qualify.

But Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, said he will introduce legislation to allow Idaho residents to qualify for federal funds if there is proof they were harmed.

He said the National Cancer Institute data released so far does not include information that could show whether elevated radiation levels in Idaho and elsewhere were “anomalies” or actual signs of radiation contamination. If it is shown fallout containing radioactive iodine 131 did hit Idaho, he said, “then certainly the citizens of Custer, Lemhi, Blaine and Gem counties can rest assured that I and the rest of the delegation will pursue this with great energy.

“If there is a liability here, we will attempt to change the law that was passed in 1990 for the Utah downwinders,” Craig said.

Congress passed the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act after reports that thousands of civilians and military personnel were exposed to dangerous levels of radiation from nuclear tests in Nevada and uranium mining across the West. The program is funded annually, with Congress setting aside $30 million this year to pay claims.

The Department of Justice, which administers the radiation compensation program, said more than 2,700 claims worth $207.29 million have been approved as of last May.

They include 22 claims for childhood leukemia, 1,316 claims from downwinders, 154 claims from those who participated at the test sites and 1,305 claims from uranium miners.

Another 18 claims for childhood leukemia have been rejected, as have 1,082 from downwinders, 625 from on-site participants, and 1,281 from uranium miners.