Coalition for a Healthy Environment
1120 Melton Hill Drive, Clinton, Tennessee 37716

December 8, 1997

Mr. Bradley Campbell
 The White House
 Washington, D. C.

 Dear Mr. Campbell,

I am writing on behalf of the members of the Coalition for a Healthy
Environment, a group of Oak Ridge employees and residents who are striving
to educate the public and our elected representatives about the dangers of
environmental illnesses associated with toxic and radioactive materials and
wastes emanating from the U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge
Reservation.  An advocate and friend, Sandra Reid, has graciously agreed to
present this letter to you during her visit to Washington.

I want to ask for your help regarding this grave situation in Oak Ridge,
Tennessee.  As you know, Senator Fred Thompson and Governor Don Sundquist
have asked the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for assistance
addressing the problem of environmental illness in Oak Ridge.

Our community's level of trust in the Department of Energy, the CDC, and
ATSDR is very low.  Because of the trust issue, the organizations and
individuals that participated in a recent 2-day workshop with DOE and CDC
have made it very clear that we want care-driven, clinical studies with the
community actively involved in decision-making during every step of the
process.  We want input into the researchers chosen and into all decisions
made about the study.  And we want the CDC, DOE and Lockheed Martin and any
agencies participating in the study to be accountable to the study
population.  We will not allow the study to "divide and conquer" us by
addressing the needs of a few to the exclusion of others who also have been
affected.

Should the study conclude that there is no link between pollutants
emanating from the DOE sites and environmental illness in the area, the
community is far more likely to accept this result as credible if  the
study has been conducted with the active involvement and open participation
of concerned and affected members of the community.  Under no other
circumstances will the study results be accepted or trusted.  Thus far,
when DOE and Lockheed Martin have solicited our participation and feedback,
our responses have been virtually ignored.  For example, for more than two
years now, we have requested biological sampling of workers and of family
members so that valid comparisons could be made.  At this point, DOE and LM
have not only refused to conduct any such sampling, they will not even
allow the doctors they hired to evaluate worker and resident health to
collect blood and urine samples.  Such behavior has convinced us that DOE's
and LM's request for our participation have been nothing more than
rhetorical--they use our "participation" as a delaying tactic or as a
cover-up for their failure to respond to real community needs.

Furthermore, we are convinced that the CDC is not the appropriate agency to
oversee long-term community assistance, which is very much needed.   What
is required is a citizens' advisory board and an environmental health
clinic set up by Health and Human Services.

The citizens of East Tennessee have given much for their country, and many
of these citizens and their descendants are now paying the price.  We are
Cold War veterans, and we deserve assistance and compensation as do those
in military uniform.

We have been wondering when the Vice President will take action for the
good of his fellow Tennesseans.  We believed that his concern about the
mercury releases in Oak Ridge in 1983 and the views he states in "Earth in
the Balance" were sincere and would prompt action sooner than this.  But it
is not too late.

Please help us convey to Vice President Gore the gravity of the matter, the
sincerity of our fear and our concern for the well-being of the community,
and our great need for his assistance. We have already lost at least one to
suicide, and many others are deathly sick.  We need answers soon.  We need
help now.

Sincerely,

Janet R. Michel
President, Coalition for a Healthy Environment