EGAN, FITZPATRICK, MALSCH & CYNKAR, PLLC
Counselors at Law
________________________________________________________
7918 Jones Branch Drive • Suite 600
McLean, Virginia 22102
Tel: (703) 918-4942
Fax: (703) 918-4943
Joseph R. Egan
Martin G. Malsch
Robert J. Cynkar
www.nuclearlawyer.com
1777 N.E. Loop 410 • Suite 600
San Antonio, Texas 78217
Tel: (210) 820-2667
Fax: (210) 820-2668
Charles J. Fitzpatrick
Contact: Joseph R. Egan
(703) 918-4944
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 11, 2004
Class Action Lawsuit Against Yucca Mountain Contractors
for Fraudulently Exposing Workers and Visitors to Carcinogens
A group of attorneys representing sick workers from the deep-bored tunnels at Yucca
Mountain announced today the filing of a major class action lawsuit against Department of
Energy (“DOE”) contractors who dug several miles of tunnels from 1992 to 1996 and then
fraudulently concealed from workers and visitors their overexposures to known toxic hazards
until early this year. The suit, filed in Clark County, Nevada, District Court (Las Vegas),
names Bechtel Corporation, SAIC Corporation, the Kiewit Group, Parsons Brinckerhoff,
Morrison-Knudson, and TRW, among others.
Gene Griego, lead plaintiff in the action, is a technician who worked on site at the
proposed nuclear waste repository, going in and out of the test tunnels as they were being dug
in the mid 1990s. “This lawsuit will expose an outrageous fraud against the workforce and
even the visitors at Yucca Mountain,” he said, “one that’s already killing people.” A non-
smoker, Griego was diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease last year. “We
hope to see these innocent people compensated, and the perpetrators brought to justice,” he
added.
The suit claims workers and visitors were deliberately exposed to illegal levels of
silica, erionite, and other known toxic dusts choking the tunnels, fibrous minerals that in
some cases are up to a 100 times more carcinogenic than asbestos. And th