Karen Dorn Steele - The Spokesman-Review

Spokane _ The bad news just keeps coming for Hanford downwinders.

Last month, a federal judge in Yakima tossed thousands of them out of a major tort case, saying most can't prove Hanford's Cold War contractors harmed their health.

This week, Congress refused to spend money on a proposed government program providing medical checkups for 14,000 people exposed to Hanford radiation emissions -- deferring a decision for at least a year.

The decision angered Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., who strongly supports medical monitoring.

``I am very disappointed this Congress did not fund the medical monitoring program for Hanford downwinders,'' Murray said Friday.

An aide to Sen. Slade Gorton did not return calls Friday seeking comment. Gorton and Murray were both on the conference committee that made the decision.

The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry had requested $12.9 million to launch the monitoring program in January 1999. The agency wanted to check the thyroid glands of all those exposed to at least 10 rads of radioactive iodine-131 from Hanford.

The issue heads to federal court in Spokane next week because medical monitoring is a legal requirement of the same Superfund law that governs Hanford's cleanup.

Despite that fact, the Republican majority on the House-Senate conference committee argued the program is premature since a National Academy of Sciences advisory committee recently recommended against thyroid screening for millions of Americans exposed to bomb-test fallout in the 1950s and early '60s.

The committee deferred a decision on the Hanford thyroid program ``without prejudice'' -- meaning it can be re-evaluated next year.

The decision was condemned by downwinders' groups.

``I find it absolutely astonishing that they'd not fund the medical monitoring program,'' said Wally Cummins, an attorney with the National Committee of Radiation Survivors in Washington, D.C.

``If this is our government in action, we need a different government.''

The committee also didn't earmark any money for the Hanford Health Information Network, a regional agency with a mailing list of 45,000 downwinders and health agencies in Washington, Oregon and Idaho.

The network is a collaboration of state health agencies and eight Northwest Indian tribes. It provides information on the health risks of Hanford exposures to downwinders and their doctors.

The committee authorized $2 million for ``information and education'' about Hanford's Cold War radiation releases, but puts the money in the hands of the U.S. Department of Energy, not the HHIN.

``I don't know what they were thinking,'' said Chris Townley, HHIN project manager in Olympia. ``They reauthorized us, but with no money. It was all very vague.''

The network's $1.3 million 1998 operating budget ended Sept. 30, but the agency has enough money to keep operating until the end of October. ``I don't know what we are going to do,'' Townley said.

Murray and Gorton support the program and worked for its full funding, Townley said.

``We'll be writing a letter to DOE reminding them of the Senate's original intent for them to fund this at $1.5 million. We'll try to get all six Northwest senators to sign this,'' said Murray aide Marla Marvin.

Congress' action also puts the Hanford archives at Gonzaga University in jeopardy if no other money can be found, said Tom Carter, associate dean of library services at Gonzaga.

The GU archives, where information on downwinders and their health problems is collected, operated this year on a $176,000 grant from HHIN. The archives opened in July 1996.

If no further funds are found, HHIN will be out of business months before a major Hanford thyroid disease study makes its results public next March.

``This is really bizarre. HHIN is the only organization set up to communicate risk to Hanford downwinders, and they may lose their funding in a year when they'll be needed more than ever,'' said Tim Connor of Spokane, chairman of a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisory committee on radiation health studies.

The thyroid disease study started in 1989. It is being conducted by the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle for the CDC.

It was finished last month and is being submitted for peer review and publication in a national journal early next year. It shows a strong connection between Hanford radiation emissions and thyroid disease in downwinders, sources close to the research say.

The future of the ATSDR program may be resolved in court. Hanford downwinder Trisha Pritikin, a Berkeley, Calif., attorney, filed suit against DOE this summer to compel funding of the medical monitoring program.

It's believed to be the first legal challenge in the country to a federal agency for failing to comply with the health-protection requirements of Superfund.

ATSDR is a Superfund agency, and Congress is obligated to fund health-related Superfund programs, Pritikin says in her lawsuit.

DOE says it wants Congress to secure funding but doesn't want to take the money out of Hanford cleanup funds.

Oral arguments in the case are scheduled Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Spokane.

Under the Superfund, the agency responsible for the pollution -- in this case, DOE -- has the responsibility to ask Congress for the money.

``DOE didn't do that,'' Connor said. ``This is really disheartening and confusing. It's just mind-numbing to see how Congress is handling this.''