Alamogordo NM
3-04-2024 10:57am

Tularosa‘s Tina Cordova Representing Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium, Guest at State of the Union Address

Otero County New Mexico Trinity nuclear bomb test victims will be represented at upcoming State of the Union Speech.Ahead of a Senate vote on the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA), U.S. Senator Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) announced Tina Cordova, co-founder of the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium, as his guest for President Biden’s State of the Union address.

Last year, Senator Luján led a bipartisan coalition of Senators to pass RECA as part of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) – the most significant Congressional action in decades to strengthen the program. Republican leadership ultimately blocked its inclusion in the final NDAA bill despite bipartisan support. Senator Luján has introduced RECA legislation in every Congress since being elected in 2008.

“Last year, Tina Cordova was with me when President Biden voiced his strong support for passing RECA into law and providing justice for New Mexicans. Generations of New Mexicans, including Tina and her family, have been impacted by the lasting impacts of the Trinity Test. It’s far past time to do right by these families who sacrificed for our national security,” said Luján.

“Last week, Leaders Schumer and McConnell committed to holding another vote on RECA. I am hopeful that this will pass with a bipartisan coalition of Senators just as it did last year. I’m honored that Tina will join me for President Biden’s State of the Union address and as the Senate prepares to once again vote on RECA,” continued Luján. “Her leadership and advocacy have been instrumental in moving RECA forward, and I am glad to have her in this fight for justice.”

About Tina Cordova:

Tina Cordova is a seventh generation native New Mexican born and raised in the small town of Tularosa in south central New Mexico. In 2005 Tina co-founded the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium (TBDC) with the late Fred Tyler. Tina is a cancer survivor having been diagnosed with Thyroid cancer when she was 39 years old. Tina has also been a guest lecturer and speaker at the University of New Mexico, New Mexico Highlands University, Colorado College, and at events across New Mexico.

About: Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium (TBDC):

Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium (TBDC) is a grassroots organization that was founded in 2005 with a purpose to bring attention to the negative health effects suffered by the people living adjacent to the Trinity test site subsequent to their overexposure to high levels of ionizing radiation that occurred on July 16, 1945, with the explosion of the Trinity atomic bomb test. 

According to the TBDC website, the Downwinders Consortium was created to "seek justice for the unknowing, unwilling and uncompensated victims of the Trinity Test at WSMR."

The Downwinders asked Congress to compensate New Mexican downwinders via an expansion of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA), which does offer reparation payments to some downwinders of the Nevada Test Site, but does not include those from New Mexico

RECA was passed in 1990 in order to help those affected by atmospheric nuclear testing and anything related to uranium industry employment according to the Department of Justice (DOJ).

RECA covers a dozen states, but only covers certain uranium industry employees in New Mexico and not the general population affected by the Trinity testing, that effort is still ongoing and the topic of this round of discussions around the vote. 

For more information about their organization website, please go to: www.trinitydownwinders.com.

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