A group of Navajo people gathered outside the Navajo Nation Council Chambers on January 27, 2024, during the opening of the winter legislative session, calling on Navajo leaders to advocate for the extension and expansion of the Radiation Compensation Act. (Photo courtesy of Noel Smith)
Holding signs that read, “Honor the Treaty of 1868. Reauthorize RECA. Funding for Health Care” and “Speaker Johnson, pass RECA before we die,” a group of Diné people marched to the Navajo Nation Council Chambers in Window Rock on Monday to commemorate the National Day of Remembrance for Downwinders and to urge their tribal leaders to push the U.S. Congress to reauthorize the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act.
The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, or RECA, provides a program that compensates individuals who become ill because of exposure to radiation from the United States’ development and testing of nuclear weapons.
But because of congressional inaction, the program expired last summer. That means no new claims can be filed, and only claims postmarked before June 10, 2024, will be considered.
“We’re still fighting for RECA up in Washington,” Kathleen Tsosie said on an Instagram Live video of the group’s march. Tsosie’s father, grandfather, and uncles all worked as uranium miners on the Navajo Nation near Cove, Arizona, from the 1940s to the 1960s.
From 1944 to 1986, nearly 30 million tons of uranium ore were extracted from Navajo lands, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and hundreds of Navajo people worked in the mines, often living and raising families in close proximity to the mines and mills.
Tsosie is also a two-time cancer survivor, has advocated for RECA for decades, and serves on the Navajo Uranium Radiation Victims Committee.
In front of the Navajo Nation Council Chambers, Tsosie discussed the importance of working with the Republican-held U.S. House and Senate to pass RECA.
“We don’t know what lies ahead,” she said, adding their most recent efforts included sending several groups to Washington, D.C., in September to advocate for the reauthorization of RECA.
One of those groups included the Sawmill Diné Warriors, a group of Navajo people mainly from the small community located approximately 20 miles north of Window Rock, Arizona.
Maggie Billiman, a founder of Sawmill Diné Warriors, spoke in front of the Navajo Nation Council Chambers on Monday, calling for continued support for RECA and families across the country.
She said she fights for justice for RECA on behalf of her children and will continue to fight for her tribe and others throughout the country until the act passes.
“The White House needs to know we’re human as much as they are,” Billiman added.
A bipartisan group of senators hopes to restart RECA after last year’s legislation failed to pass the U.S. House of Representatives.
Despite lapse in compensation for downwinders, there are still more than 1,000 pending claims
U.S. Sens. Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Josh Hawley (R-MO), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) and Eric Schmitt (R-MO)have reintroduced the bill to compensate people who were exposed to radiation by government weapons programs.
Between the 1940s and 1990s, thousands of uranium mines operated in the United States, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Most operated in Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, New Mexico and Arizona, typically on federal and tribal lands.
The number of mining locations associated with uranium is around 15,000, according to the EPA, and of those, more than 4,000 have documented uranium production.
“For decades, Arizonans living near uranium mining sites and nuclear testing zones have been exposed to dangerous levels of radiation, causing people to suffer from serious health conditions,” Kelly said in a press release. “We owe it to them, and to all those impacted across the country, to right this wrong and get them the support they deserve.”
The RECA expansion bill would include more communities downwind of nuclear test sites in the United States and Guam. It would extend eligibility for uranium workers, including those who worked after 1971. Communities harmed by radioactive waste from the tests could apply for the program, and expansion would also boost compensation payments to account for inflation.
“The time to reauthorize RECA is now,” Hawley said in a press release.
“For far too long, Missourians and others across America have suffered without compensation from their government,” he added. “It is vital that we unite to pass this legislation now and that the President sign it into law.”
From 1945 to 1992, the U.S. conducted a total of 1,030 nuclear tests, according to the Arms Control Association.
Many were conducted at the Nevada Test Site, with 928 nuclear tests conducted at the site between 1951 and 1992, according to the Nevada National Security Site. About 100 were atmospheric tests, and the rest were underground detonations.
According to the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation, atmospheric tests involved unrestrained releases of radioactive materials directly into the environment, causing the largest collective dose of radiation from human-made sources thus far.
“In New Mexico and across the country, thousands sacrificed to contribute to our national security,” Luján said in a press release, adding that many of the individuals impacted by nuclear weapons testing, downwind radiation exposure, and uranium mining are still waiting for justice.
“It is unacceptable that so many who have gotten sick from radiation exposure have been denied compensation by Congress,” he said, adding that RECA is a bipartisan priority. He expressed hope that the legislation will clear the U.S. Senate again.
During the RECA advocates march to the Navajo Nation capitol on Monday, Navajo Nation Council Delegate Amber Kanazbah Crotty said the Navajo Nation has to continuously remind their congressional and federal leaders in charge of making decisions regarding compensation that their people and communities have suffered at the hands of radioactive materials for generations.
“The federal government knew how that material would impact the lives of our fathers, grandfathers and great-grandfathers,” she said, and it continues to impact the lives of their children and grandchildren.
Crotty said uranium left a legacy of contamination, pain and health disparities throughout the Navajo Nation, and it is time for Congress and the federal government to fully compensate those who have been impacted.
“The time is now,” she added, noting that this is a bipartisan issue and should be supported by both parties.
“The United States needs to restore what they have taken from our communities,” Crotty said, and one of those first steps is expanding and fully funding RECA.
Arizona Mirror is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Arizona Mirror maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jim Small for questions: info@azmirror.com.
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