People who developed cancer as a result of working at a rocket testing center have asked Congress to approve compensation payments, it was reported Sunday.

Secretaries, lab technicians, engineers and others who worked at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory near Los Angeles say they have contracted cancer at a much-higher rate than expected over the five decades that the facility was operated by federal defense and space contractor Rocketdyne, according to a local newspaper, the Ventura County Star.

The facility, perched in the Rocky Mountains just a few miles west of Los Angeles city limits, is blamed for 22 forms of very unusual cancers in former plant workers, said the paper.

Last week, the paper reported that the U.S. Department of Energy had halted its demolition of several old rocket engine testing pads and other facilities at the former plant.

Residents in Los Angeles and other nearby areas could be exposed to cancer-causing chemicals as a result of airborne dust particles or water runoff caused by the current plant cleanup, critics of the operation have said.

Two Congressmen, Republican Elton Gallegly and Democrat Mark Udall, have been trying for eight years to win payments for workers at Santa Susana and other former weapons plants or rocket research centers operated by private contractors on behalf of the U.S. government, the paper said.

Bonnie Klea, a former secretary at the plant, said her battle against bladder cancer is as frustrating as her battle against federal bureaucracy.

She urged the bipartisan Congress to give financial assistance as she fights the disease.

Speaking of the Congressmen's efforts she said, "It's more hope than I've had in 12 years of dealing with this issue."