The workers service utility tunnels beneath the U.S. Capitol complex, maintaining the plumbing systems that provide steam and chilled water to Congress, the Library of Congress, the Supreme Court, and other federal buildings. The workers, who are officially known as Tunnel Shop employees, call themselves "the Tunnel Rats."

According to their attorneys, the workers allege that they were retaliated against after they informed members of Congress and the media about falling concrete, high temperatures, unsafe levels of asbestos and other toxins, and other dangerous working conditions in the five miles of utility tunnels.

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In an Aug. 21 report on “NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams,” Lisa Myers and the NBC News Investigative Unit reported on the workers' claims. Documents obtained by the Investigative Unit showed that Congress has been warned of asbestos and other "potentially life threatening safety and health violations" in the tunnels since 2000. Federal investigators recently found that overall conditions in the tunnels pose an "imminent danger" to the workers, and that the Architect of the Capitol "effectively ignored" safety warnings for six years.

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Tunnel workers in their own words
July 2006: NBC News obtained this video shot inside the Capitol’s utility tunnels -- to document what the workers say are unsafe working conditions.
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The NBC News Investigative Unit also obtained a sample of dust from inside the tunnels, and had the sample tested at a nationally renowned lab. The test indicated 30-40 percent concentrations of asbestos, considered extremely dangerous. Federal investigators also found comparably dangerous levels of asbestos.

In a press release Wednesday, the lawyers charged that the Architect of the Capitol "knowingly exposed [the tunnel workers] to these hazards ... [and] forced them to work for decades with little or no protective gear ... resulting in progressive and life-threatening asbestos disease."

Some members of the tunnel crew have worked unprotected in these conditions for 20 years. In 2000, the Office of Compliance sent a memo to the Architect of the Capitol stating: "[the Architect of the Capitol] needs to take action to prevent tunnel workers from breathing airborne asbestos." Despite that warning and others, it wasn't until March that tunnel workers were told to wear protective masks.

Some workers already have documented health problems they believe were caused by asbestos exposure. One test indicated that one of the tunnel workers had the "lungs of a 118-year-old."

CONTINUED : Details from the tunnel workers' complaint

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