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New Mexicans still suffering the consequences of the first atomic bomb test in the state scored a recent victory and that victory may be because of the public’s interest in the new movie, “Oppenheimer” now appearing around the world on the Big Screen.
A vote in the Senate on Thursday meant, that for the first time the people in Southern New Mexico, near the Trinity site near Alamogordo will be included in the “Radiation Exposure Compensation Act.”
It’s a major step forward for advocates who have been fighting for recognition since 2005.
Christopher Nolan’s film Oppenheimer hasn’t just brought the spotlight on Los Alamos as the birthplace of nuclear weapons, it also has reinvigorated a longstanding fight to compensate generations of New Mexicans sickened by the radiation from the Trinity Test. Last week the US Senate passed an expansion and extension of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act program as part of the National Defense Authorization Act that includes, for the first time, New Mexico downwinders and post-1971 Uranium miners.
“Nearly eight decades after the Trinity Test in New Mexico, many New Mexicans are still left out of the original RECA program,” said US Sen. Ben Ray Luján, D-NM, who has introduced RECA legislation annually since being elected to the US House in 2008.
“This is unacceptable given the number of New Mexicans who have gotten sick and died from radiation exposure. The federal government must do right by these communities, and today’s Senate vote is a step in the right direction toward justice.”The amendment passed on a 61-37 vote.
“When I saw that we had 61 votes, honestly, it was so emotional, it was such an emotional experience,” said Tina Cordova, co-founder of Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium told KOB News on July 29th.
Cordova’s fight for the New Mexicans whose lives were forever changed by the development of the first atomic bomb has never made it this far on Capitol Hill.
“This is the thirteenth year that bills have been introduced in the U.S. Senate and House, and the first time there’s ever been a floor vote,” Cordova said to KOB.
Cordova has testified before Congress several times in the past, asking them to give New Mexican Downwinders the same acknowledgement, and benefits other Americans exposed to nuclear testing have received for decades.
But, it seems the movie “Oppenheimer,” was the push Congress needed to take action.
“Millions of people across the country traveled to theaters this weekend and saw a blockbuster centered around this infamous day. But not enough people have focused on the collateral damage caused by our nation’s nuclear weapons testing,” said Sen. Ben Ray Luján.
A recent study from Princeton University shows the radioactive fallout from the explosion spread far beyond the state.
We know that there we’re 15,000 people living within a 50-mile radius of the test site. And if you expand the radius to 150 miles, it encompasses Albuquerque and El Paso to the north. And we’re talking about half a million people.
Not out of the woods yet! The Senate passed the bill but the defense bill is different than the House version. The house and senate conference committees are attempting to reconcile differences in their bills and once reconciled must approve the final version. It’s important pressure remain on the Senate and the House members to ensure this appropriation is included in the final reconciliation agreement between the chambers.
New Mexico Senator Lujan said there are still people facing cancer due to the radiation exposure in small communities in New Mexico, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado and some U.S. territories. Not all of those downwinders are able to receive compensation.
“I’m trying to right that wrong, trying to fix this injustice,” he said to the New Mexico Political Report.
Representative Gabe Vasquez added to the dialog via a tweet on X…
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