DOE Sick Worker.org
Coalition for a Healthy Environment (CHE)

CHE developed from the need of a support and research group involving the illnesses of workers at the Department of Energy Nuclear Facilities (K-25, X-10 and Y-12) and citizens of Oak Ridge, Tennessee and the surrounding area. We are interested in helping those who have been harmed by the contamination and operations of the Department of Energy facilities.

The activities of the Department of Energy during the development and manufacture of nuclear bombs have contaminated Oak Ridge. There are many ill people in our community as a result of failure to contain and regulate contaminants, both radioactive and chemical. (DOE and its predecessors have been self-regulating and have not done a good job.) DOE refuses to acknowledge this and it has led to a long, hard battle to prove that the illnesses have been caused by toxins and heavy metals released into our community.

We are seeking medical treatment for ourselves as well as others in the community in order that our bodies can be rid of the contaminants placed there by these operations. We are trying to ensure that others will not be harmed by the operations at the facilities as we have been.

When we incorporated in 1997, we crafted the following Mission and Purposes.

Mission: Coalition for a Healthy Environment's mission is to protect and preserve the health and safety of workers in industry; to protect rural and natural environments for wildlife, residents, and the general public; to address all environmental justice issues; to alert and educate public officials, citizens, and the media to adverse industrial practices that impact the health and safety of workers, residents, general public, wildlife, and environment; to facilitate research and investigation of environmental, rural, and worker health issues; to assist its members, as well as the public, in all aspects of health disabilities, loss of employment, and retaliation; and to dedicate its efforts in promoting a strong, viable environment that will support a quality of life for all humans and wildlife in Tennessee and the Appalachian Region.

Purposes: The purposes of the Coalition are: to research environmental and health issues and legal precedents and provide information to the membership and public; to establish liaison with other organizations pursuing similar issues; to report concerns and findings to the membership, public and media; to act on behalf of the members and public to represent their interests in reversing the degradation of the environment; to provide support for health care and legal counsel to the members and public; and, to educate the membership and public on industrial practices, health effects, and recourse for ill-affected citizens.

********************** We have worked for the past 5+ years to fulfill the above goals and while we have amassed thousands of documents, some of which are incriminating and show linkages between the workplace and illnesses, we are still a long way from getting medical help which is the main thing we asked for in the beginning. We have spent countless hours at public meetings with the State of Tennessee, EPA, NIOSH, the CDC, ATSDR, HRSA, and more. We have gone through every channel we could think of for help. We do not fit into anyone's jurisdiction. Our last resort was Congress and even it has failed us.

In 2000, we made 5 trips to Washington for hearings and meetings with the White House and members of Congress and their staffs. A bill was finally passed that does very little to help the afflicted. Yet, DOE and the Congress got lots of media attention and acclaim for helping those desperately in need and deserving of help for the work they did for the defense of our county. In reality, only about 5% of the workplace will be affected, if that. CHE is a member of   Oak Ridge Communities Allied