The limited compensation according to the Radiation Compensation Act ends in one year. Our New Mexico congressional delegation must lead the continuation and expansion of the RECA programs before they end on July 11, 2022.
From 1945-62, the US government conducted hundreds of atomic weapons tests in the atmosphere. The very first was here in New Mexico. Uranium mining and processing began in many areas, particularly in western states like ours, to fuel the development of the nuclear arsenal. People who lived near atmospheric test sites, uranium mining and processing workers and members of the military were exposed to the radiation without their consent.
In 1990 the congress issued RECA. This law provides for one-time benefit payments to people who are likely to have developed cancer or other specific diseases after exposure to uranium mining, processing or transportation of uranium, and nuclear fallout from nuclear testing in certain areas of Utah, Nevada and Arizona.
The law was expanded in 2000 to compensate additional uranium workers and unsuspecting civilians who were also exposed to the radiation. Uranium workers after 1971 are not entitled to compensation, although most of the uranium mining production takes place after 1971.
Recent research, conducted at the University of New Mexico’s Health Sciences Center, suggests that there are no differences in exposure and disease between uranium workers prior to 1971 and uranium workers after 1971. All uranium workers should be compensated for their radiation exposure illnesses.
Communities in the western states continue to suffer serious health effects from the government’s nuclear program, but the RECA program and trust fund will expire next year unless Congress acts to extend the legislation.
We call on Sens. Ben Ray Luján and Martin Heinrich to request an extension of RECA and the acceptance of changes that:
- Extend RECA for another 23 years (until 2045).
- Compensation increased to $ 150,000 for all eligible.
- Extension of the entitlement to all uranium workers who were active from 1972-90.
- Expand geographic coverage for atmospheric nuclear test exposure compensation to cover all of New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, and Utah.
- Extension of geographic entitlement to those present in Guam during Pacific atmospheric tests and veterans who participated in the Enewetak Atoll cleanup.
While RECA is critically endangered, these effects of radiation exposure are not. It is up to our representatives in New Mexico and Congress to extend RECA to those already covered and to extend it to all concerned.
Susan Gordon is the coordinator of the Multicultural Alliance for a Safe Environment; Larry King is the President of the Church Rock Chapter for the Navajo Nation; and Linda Evers is president of the Post 71 Uranium Workers Committee. Both Larry King and Linda Evers are former uranium workers.
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