I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., and Rep. Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., announced today they are leading efforts to expand compensation for those exposed to radiation.
The two introduced the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) in their respective chambers of Congress. The amendment to existing RECA legislation would widen the qualification needed for compensation to radiation exposure.
The two introduced RECA legislation last year. Among other things, the legislation would qualify post-1971 uranium workers for compensation, equalize compensation for all claimants to $150,000, expand the downwind exposure area to include New Mexico, Colorado, Idaho and Montana and any county in Arizona, Nevada or Utah that has been proven to be impacted by downwind contamination, and fund an epidemiological study of the health impacts on uranium workers, their families and uranium development communities.
“As the U.S. government built up its Cold War nuclear arsenal during the mid-20th century, many Americans paid the price with their health – and all the while, the government was slow to implement federal protections,” Udall said. “With this legislation, we honor a generation of hardworking Americans who sacrificed their lives and health by working or living near the uranium mines.”
Udall said the legislation is cosponsored by Sens. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, Mark Udall, D-Colo., James Rishc, R-Idaho and Michael Bennett, D-Colo.
“This legislation recognizes the sacrifices of the workers and miners whose efforts contributed to our victory during the Cold War, and the downwinders who have been forgotten for too long,” Luján said in a statement. “These patriotic Americans have waited long enough for the compensation they deserve.”
