[House Hearing, 117 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
EXAMINING THE NEED TO EXPAND ELIGIBILITY
UNDER THE RADIATION EXPOSURE COMPENSATION ACT
=======================================================================
HEARING
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON THE CONSTITUTION, CIVIL
RIGHTS, AND CIVIL LIBERTIES
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 24, 2021
__________
Serial No. 117-14
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on the Judiciary
[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Available via: http://judiciary.house.gov
__________
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
45-395 WASHINGTON : 2022
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COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY
JERROLD NADLER, New York, Chair
MADELEINE DEAN, Pennsylvania, Vice-Chair
ZOE LOFGREN, California JIM JORDAN, Ohio, Ranking Member
SHEILA JACKSON LEE, Texas STEVE CHABOT, Ohio
STEVE COHEN, Tennessee LOUIE GOHMERT, Texas
HENRY C. ``HANK'' JOHNSON, Jr., DARRELL ISSA, California
Georgia KEN BUCK, Colorado
THEODORE E. DEUTCH, Florida MATT GAETZ, Florida
KAREN BASS, California MIKE JOHNSON, Louisiana
HAKEEM S. JEFFRIES, New York ANDY BIGGS, Arizona
DAVID N. CICILLINE, Rhode Island TOM McCLINTOCK, California
ERIC SWALWELL, California W. GREG STEUBE, Florida
TED LIEU, California TOM TIFFANY, Wisconsin
JAMIE RASKIN, Maryland THOMAS MASSIE, Kentucky
PRAMILA JAYAPAL, Washington CHIP ROY, Texas
VAL BUTLER DEMINGS, Florida DAN BISHOP, North Carolina
J. LUIS CORREA, California MICHELLE FISCHBACH, Minnesota
MARY GAY SCANLON, Pennsylvania VICTORIA SPARTZ, Indiana
SYLVIA R. GARCIA, Texas SCOTT FITZGERALD, Wisconsin
JOE NEGUSE, Colorado CLIFF BENTZ, Oregon
LUCY McBATH, Georgia BURGESS OWENS, Utah
GREG STANTON, Arizona
VERONICA ESCOBAR, Texas
MONDAIRE JONES, New York
DEBORAH ROSS, North Carolina
CORI BUSH, Missouri
PERRY APELBAUM, Majority Staff Director & Chief Counsel
CHRISTOPHER HIXON, Minority Staff Director
------
SUBCOMMITTEE ON THE CONSTITUTION, CIVIL RIGHTS,
AND CIVIL LIBERTIES
STEVE COHEN, Tennessee, Chair
DEBORAH ROSS, North Carolina, Vice-Chair
JAMIE RASKIN, Maryland MIKE JOHNSON, Louisiana, Ranking
HENRY C. ``HANK'' JOHNSON, Jr., Member
Georgia TOM McCLINTOCK, California
SYLVIA R. GARCIA, Texas CHIP ROY, Texas
CORI BUSH, Missouri MICHELLE FISCHBACH, Minnesota
SHEILA JACKSON LEE, Texas BURGESS OWENS, Utah
JAMES PARK, Chief Counsel
C O N T E N T S
----------
Wednesday, March 24, 2021
Page
OPENING STATEMENTS
The Honorable Steve Cohen, Chair of the Subcommittee on the
Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties from the State
of Tennessee................................................... 1
The Honorable Mike Johnson, Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on
the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties from the
State of Louisiana............................................. 3
WITNESSES
Panel I
The Honorable Ben Ray Lujan, U.S. Senator from the State of New
Mexico
Oral Testimony................................................. 11
Prepared Testimony............................................. 21
The Honorable Gregory Stanton, a Member of the Committee on the
Judiciary from the State of Arizona
Oral Testimony................................................. 24
Prepared Testimony............................................. 26
Panel II
Jonathan Nez, President of the Navajo Nation
Oral Testimony................................................. 32
Prepared Testimony............................................. 35
Lilly Adams, Independent Consultant Specializing in Nuclear
Weapons Issues
Oral Testimony................................................. 41
Prepared Testimony............................................. 43
Jean Bishop, Supervisor District 4, Mohave County, Arizona
Oral Testimony................................................. 55
Prepared Testimony............................................. 57
Scott D. Szymendera, Analyst in Disability Policy, Congressional
Research Service
Oral Testimony................................................. 82
Prepared Testimony............................................. 84
Tina Cordova, Co-Founder, Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium
Oral Testimony................................................. 111
Prepared Testimony............................................. 114
LETTERS, STATEMENTS, ETC. SUBMITTED FOR THE HEARING
Statements submitted by the Honorable Mike Johnson, Ranking
Member of the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights,
and Civil Liberties from the State of Louisiana for the record
Statement from the Honorable Mike Crapo, U.S. Senator from the
State of Idaho............................................... 6
Statement from Tona Vahlberg-Henderson......................... 10
Statement from Senator Orrin G. Hatch, submitted by the Honorable
Ben Ray Lujan, U.S. Senator from the State of New Mexico for
the record..................................................... 14
Statement from Senator Mark Kelly, submitted by the Honorable
Gregory Stanton, a Member of the Committee on the Judiciary
from the State of Arizona for the record....................... 30
Materials submitted by Jonathan Nez, President of the Navajo
Nation for the record
Statement from the Mohave County Board of Supervisors
Resolutions.................................................. 60
A report to the Honorable Janet Napolitano, Governor from the
State of Arizona, from Aubrey V. Godwin, Arizona Radiation
Regulatory Agency............................................ 67
Materials submitted by Tina Cordova, Co-Founder, Tularosa Basin
Downwinders Consortium for the record
An article entitled, ``Trinity: `The most significant hazard of
the entire Manhattan Project,' '' Bulletin of Atomic
Scientists................................................... 134
A letter from Dr. Joseph J. Shonka, Health Physicist, to the
Honorable Jerrold Nadler..................................... 143
An article entitled, ``Santa Fe Portrait; A Longtime Pillar of
the Government Now Aids Those Hurt by Its Bombs Santa Fe
Portrait; A Longtime Pillar of the Government Now Aids Those
Hurt by Its Bombs,'' The Times............................... 146
APPENDIX
Items submitted by the Honorable Steve Cohen, Chair of the
Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil
Liberties from the State of Tennessee for the record
Statement from Mr. Robert N. Celestial, President, Pacific
Association for Radiation Survivors.......................... 168
A letter from Terrie Barrie, the Alliance of Nuclear Worker
Advocacy Groups (ANWAG)...................................... 170
Statement from Cold War Patriots............................... 172
A letter from Mary Dickson..................................... 173
Statement from Wilfred Herrera, Governor, Pueblo of Laguna, and
Ryan Piley, Pueblo of Laguna................................. 176
Statement from Linda Evers..................................... 182
Statement from Larry J. King................................... 186
An article entitled, ``Unexpected rates of chromosomal
instabilities and alterations of hormone levels in Namibian
uranium miners,'' PubMed..................................... 188
An article entitled, ``An Innovative Approach to Enhancing
Access to Medical Screening for Miners using a Mobile Clinic
with Telemedicine Capability,'' Project MUSE................. 190
An article entitled, ``Uranium Workers Demonstrate Lower Lobe
Predominant Irregular Pneumoconiotic Opacities on Chest
Radiographs,'' Project MUSE.................................. 202
An article entitled, ``Post-1971 Uranium Industry Workers Have
a Similar Radiologic Lung Disease Burden to Pre-1971
Workers,'' ATS Journals...................................... 214
An article entitled, ``Post-1971 Era Uranium Workers in New
Mexico Have Significant Lung Disease Burden,'' ATS Journals.. 216
An article entitled, ``Greater Odds for Angina in Uranium
Miners Than Nonuranium Miners in New Mexico,'' American
College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine........... 220
Statement from Cipriano Lucero, Post '71 uranium worker........ 227
Statement from National Association of Atomic Veterans, Inc.... 231
Statement from the Honorable Michael F.Q. San Nicolas, a
Delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives for Guam....... 233
Statement from Barbara K. Kent, survivor of atomic bomb Trinity 235
QUESTIONS AND RESPONSES FOR THE RECORD
Questions to Tina Cordova from the Honorable Chip Roy, a Member
of the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and
Civil Liberties from the State of Texas for the record......... 238
Response from Tina Cordova to Honorable Chip Roy, a Member of the
Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil
Liberties from the State of Texas for the record............... 239
Questions to Scott Szymendera from Honorable Chip Roy, a Member
of the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and
Civil Liberties from the State of Texas for the record......... 242
Response from Scott Szymendera to Honorable Chip Roy, a Member of
the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil
Liberties from the State of Texas for the record............... 243
EXAMINING THE NEED TO EXPAND.
ELIGIBILITY UNDER THE RADIATION EXPOSURE COMPENSATION ACT
----------
Wednesday, March 24, 2021
U.S. House of Representatives
Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and
Civil Liberties
Committee on the Judiciary
Washington, DC
The Subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 2:03 p.m., via
Webex, Hon. Steve Cohen [Chair of the Subcommittee] presiding.
Present: Representatives Cohen, Ross, Johnson of Georgia,
Jackson Lee, Jordan, Johnson of Louisiana, Fischbach, and
Owens.
Staff Present: David Greengrass, Senior Counsel; Madeline
Strasser, Chief Clerk; Moh Sharma, Member Services and Outreach
Advisor; Jordan Dashow, Professional Staff Member; Cierra
Fontenot, Staff Assistant; John Williams, Parliamentarian;
James Park, Chief Counsel; Will Emmons, Professional Staff
Member; Matt Morgan, Counsel; James Lesinski, Minority Counsel;
and Kiley Bidelman, Minority Clerk.
Mr. Cohen. The Committee on the Judiciary's Subcommittee on
the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties will come
to order. Without objection, the Chair is authorized to declare
a recess of the Committee at any time.
I welcome everyone to today's hearing on ``Examining the
Need to Expand Eligibility under the Radiation Exposure
Compensation Act.'' Before we begin, I would like to remind
Members that we have established an email address and
distribution list dedicated to circulating exhibits, motions,
or other written materials that Members may want to submit
during this hearing. If you would like to submit materials,
please send them to Judiciarydocs--that is
[email protected]. We will distribute them to the
Members and staff as quickly as we can.
I will now recognize myself for an opening statement. The
purpose of today's hearing is to examine whether Congress
should reauthorize and expand compensation eligibility under
the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, also known as RECA, an
acronym. Enacted in 1990, RECA established a program
administered by the Department of Justice to pay compensation
to certain individuals who were harmed by the U.S. Government's
atmospheric testing of atomic weapons.
RECA also provides for payment to certain uranium mine
workers who were harmed as they labored to produce the
necessary raw materials for U.S. atomic weapons development.
Starting in the 1940s with the development of the atom bomb
during World War II and spurred on by the ensuing Cold War with
the former Soviet Union, the U.S. Government embarked on a
decades-long program of nuclear weapons development. This
development program included over 1,000 atomic weapons tests,
including aboveground atmospheric testing.
In the Continental United States, this atmospheric testing
occurred primarily but not exclusively at the Nevada test site
where the Federal Government conducted 100 atmospheric tests
during the 1950s and early 1960s. In the same period, the
United States also conducted hundreds of underwater and
atmospheric atomic tests in various areas of the Pacific Ocean.
Coinciding with this period was an increase in uranium
mining. Thousands of U.S. uranium workers labored to produce
the raw materials necessary to fuel the U.S. atomic weapons
development. During this period, the U.S. Government was the
sole purchaser of uranium ore. In fact, private ownership of
uranium ore was illegal until 1964 when the Federal Government
permitted it for the purpose of fueling nuclear power plants.
Many uranium mines were located on Tribal lands, and many
uranium mine workers were drawn from the surrounding Native
American communities. Although the U.S. Government and private
mining companies they contracted with knew of the dangers that
are inherent in uranium mining, they did little to warn these
Native American uranium workers or their communities about the
dangers inherent in uranium mining. Many Native American
communities and Tribal lands still bear the scars of that
injustice.
While the U.S. Government stopped purchasing uranium for
atomic weapons in 1971, the labor conditions in the uranium
mining industry it fostered did not suddenly improve after the
Federal Government officially pulled up stakes.
Despite efforts to improve uranium worker safety through
increased Federal regulation, uranium mine workers continued to
face elevated risk from radon exposure after 1971. The Federal
Government in many ways failed to adequately protect or warn
people about the potential hazards associated with this atomic
weapons development.
Regarding atmospheric testing, the government failed to
warn communities downwind from the test sites, both in the
continental United States and in the Pacific, including U.S.
territories such as Guam, of the dangers from radiation.
Similarly, with respect to uranium mining, the Federal
Government failed to warn or adequately protect uranium workers
and their communities regarding the dangers posed by radon and
radioactive particles. Indeed, the government, in many cases,
failed to warn or adequately protect its own personnel present
at atmospheric testing sites or those who years later were sent
by the government to clean up those radioactive testing sites.
Underlying this history is the fact that the U.S.
Government was not only in the best position to potentially
mitigate the harm its atomic weapons development caused, but it
also had a responsibility to do so. Congress passed RECA over
30 years ago with the knowledge that that fact, as well as the
fact that while the whole country may have benefited from the
purported security resulting from the development of atomic
weapons, certain individuals and communities disproportionately
bore most of the harms and risks that came with it, yet many
individuals affected by the U.S. Government's harms that I
described remain ineligible under the RECA program. Many of
these individuals are arguably similarly situated to others
currently eligible under RECA if they have been denied the
chance for compensation and despite the continuing negative
impacts of the government's atomic weapons development.
As we consider the question of whether Congress should
revise eligibility requirements under RECA, I would encourage
the Subcommittee to carefully consider the testimony we gather
today as this issue has deeply affected the lives of many,
including some of our Witnesses that will be joining us.
I would like to thank our colleagues, one of our colleagues
on the Judiciary Committee, Representative Greg Stanton, and
our former House colleague, now Senator Ben Ray Lujan, for
their leadership on this important issue. I would also like to
acknowledge leadership of Senator Mike Crapo, who chaired a
similar hearing in 2018 before the Senate Judiciary Committee,
for his leadership on this issue as well. I thank all our
Witnesses for being here. I look forward to their testimony.
At this point, it is my pleasure to recognize the Ranking
Member of the Subcommittee, the gentleman from Louisiana, Mr.
Johnson, for his opening statement. You need to unmute.
Mr. Johnson of Louisiana. Sorry. There we go. I appreciate
that.
Mr. Chair, thank you for the time and the hearing. This is
a bipartisan concern, and so we treat it as such.
To restate some of the important facts here at the outset,
for those who may not be familiar with the whole history of
this, as you have indicated, near the end of World War II, the
U.S. detonated the first atomic weapon at the Trinity test site
near Alamogordo, New Mexico. Between this first test in 1945
and 1963, the U.S. conducted nearly 200 atmospheric or
aboveground automatic weapons tests. A majority of these tests
took place at the Nevada test site, a government facility
located in Nye County down there. Additional atmospheric tests
took place at locations in the Pacific Ocean and the south
Atlantic Ocean.
From 1942 through 1971, the U.S. also purchased uranium ore
and operated mines to extract uranium from locations in the
American Southwest and West. This mining of uranium was the
primary fuel for atomic weapons during that period. These
activities have led to incidences of cancer and other
radiation-related illnesses among people who participated in
the test, who lived in close proximity to the test, or who
mined, milled, or transported the uranium used in the
manufacture of the automatic weapons--atomic weapons.
In 1990, Congress passed, as you said, the Radiation
Exposure Compensation Act, or RECA, as we call it, to provide
partial restitution to those individuals who were affected.
Administered by the Department of Justice, RECA has paid more
than $2.45 billion in compensation to nearly 38,000 claimants
over the past three decades. With RECA scheduled to sunset a
little more than a year from now and with the number of pending
claims dwindling, some here in Congress have proposed extending
and expanding RECA.
As we consider these proposals, I think we should keep in
mind how and why RECA was structured by Congress. It was
designed to provide partial compensation to those people whose
health was adversely affected by their participation in or
their close proximity to the development and testing of these
automatic weapons. These are individuals whose health ailments
can be reasonably determined to come from the U.S. Government's
activities.
This intent is reflected in the one-time nature of the
payments available under RECA and the specific eligibility
requirements for compensation. In order to be eligible for
compensation under RECA, a claimant must meet specific
geographic, temporal, and disease requirements.
As our understanding of the health effects from nuclear
testing has improved, of course, Congress has returned to amend
RECA. For instance, Congress enacted the Radiation Exposure
Compensation Act amendments in the year 2000 to expand the list
of qualifying diseases, add additional geographic areas, tweak
filing requirements, add additional qualifying occupations in
the uranium mining sector, and extend the deadline for filing a
claim.
Since the last time that Congress meaningfully amended RECA
and commissioned a study on whether to expand the so-called
downwinder eligibility area. Downwinders are people who live in
areas affected by fallout from atmospheric weapons tests. This
report examined a wide range of items previously identified by
Congress and made recommendations, such as the application of a
probability-based model for eligibility under RECA. As we
consider proposals to expand and extend RECA, we should examine
the conclusions of that report as well as expert testimony so
as to accurately evaluate what steps should be considered by
this Congress.
I thank our Witnesses for appearing today, and we look
forward to your testimony.
Mr. Chair, before I yield back, I have statements from
Senator Crapo of Idaho and one of his constituents, Ms. Tonya
Henderson, who heads the Idaho Downwinders Association. I ask
consent that these statements be included in the record.
Mr. Cohen. Without objection, so done.
[The information follows:]
MR. JOHNSON OF LOUISIANA FOR THE RECORD
=======================================================================
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Mr. Johnson of Louisiana. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I yield
back.
Mr. Cohen. Thank you, Mr. Johnson.
Mr. Nadler is not here, so he won't be giving an opening
statement.
I think Mr. Jordan is here. Would he like to give an
opening statement?
Mr. Jordan. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am fine right now. I
look forward to hearing from our Witnesses.
Mr. Cohen. Thank you, Mr. Jordan.
Our Witnesses are present. We welcome our Witnesses and
thank them for participating in today's hearing. I will now
introduce each of the Witnesses and, after each introduction,
will recognize that Witness for his or her oral testimony. Your
written statement will be entered into the record in its
entirety, and I ask you to summarize your statement in 5
minutes.
Because of the absence of a timing light as we have in the
Committee room, I will note orally when 5 minutes have elapsed
and bang my gavel. There will be a timer on your screen, so
please be mindful of it.
Before proceeding with testimony, I would like to remind
everybody that you have a legal obligation to provide truthful
testimony and answers to the Subcommittee. Any false statements
you make today may subject you to prosecution under section
1001 of title 18 of the United States Code.
Today, we have two Witness panels. On our first panel are
two of our colleagues. Per our usual custom, we will not be
asking them any questions.
Our first Witness is Senator Ben Ray Lujan. Senator Lujan
represents the State of New Mexico in the United States Senate,
having been first elected to that office in 2020. Previously
for 12 years, he represented New Mexico's Third Congressional
District in the U.S. House of Representatives and served as
Assistant Speaker during his tenure in the House. Senator--when
he was Representative Lujan had a great interest in this issue,
and unfortunately, the Committee which did a lot with the other
matters, did not get a chance to have a hearing. But he was
certainly support of and wanted to have this hearing, and I am
pleased that he is here today.
Senator Lujan, you are now recognized for 5 minutes.
STATEMENT OF THE HON. BEN RAY LUJAN
Senator Lujan. Thank you, Chair. Before I begin, Mr. Chair,
I ask unanimous consent to enter into the record a statement
from Senator Orrin Hatch, a sponsor of the original Radiation
Exposure Compensation Act amendments.
Mr. Cohen. Without objection, that shall be done.
[The information follows:]
HON. BEN RAY LUJAN FOR THE RECORD
=======================================================================
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Senator Lujan. Thank you, Mr. Chair. To you and to all the
Members, the Ranking Members, thank you for holding this
hearing. And I want to also recognize Chair Nadler for the work
they are doing and Mr. Johnson, who are not able to be with us
today, for holding today's hearing to discuss the need to
expand eligibility under the Radiation Exposure Compensation
Act. I also want to thank Chair Nadler for joining me to meet
with downwinders and uranium miners last summer. They
appreciated your commitment and the conversation.
So, Mr. Chair, while there has been a bit of history
shared, I want to make sure that I am emphasizing some of it.
Seventy-five years ago, rural New Mexico became ground zero for
the detonation of the nuclear bomb at the Trinity test site.
Henry, who was 11 years old at the time, he was living in
Tularosa, New Mexico, with his family. That morning, he said he
heard a large blast and saw a great flash of light. He said,
``I got so scared,'' he wrote, that he thought the world was
coming to an end.
Francisco, another Witness of the Trinity test, said there
was a large cloud in the shape of a mushroom. We realized later
that the backs of cattle had turned White as though they had
suddenly aged. The test was a total surprise to us. We were not
even informed that the detonation was going to take place even
after the test. No one communicated with us in regards to this
major occurrence. That atomic bomb, Gloria wrote to me, has
caused anguish to so many people in New Mexico. The people from
New Mexico have suffered physically, mentally, and financially,
and we are all here in hope that you will find a way to help
us.
While the Trinity test ushered in the start of the atomic
age, it also marked the beginning of sickness and suffering for
generations of people who lived and grew up in the Tularosa
Basin or worked or lived in uranium mines and worked in those
areas. For example, you can still find a high level of
contaminants downstream from the Jackpile uranium mine in
Laguna Pueblo, New Mexico. This was the world's largest open
uranium pit.
As President Jonathan Nez of the Navajo Nation will share
with his testimony, the Navajo people continue to suffer from
the legacy of uranium mining, 525 abandoned mines, and the
largest hazardous waste spill that occurred at the Church Rock
site in 1979.
Thousands of New Mexicans who worked in uranium mines faced
unsafe and dangerous conditions. So, Mr. Chair, one of the
questions I ask is the first bomb that was detonated on
American soil in New Mexico, the largest open uranium pit, one
of the largest tragedies that occurred with uranium tailings,
why are these communities not included in downwind designation?
I invite you to listen to the story of Cipriano Lucero, a
uranium miner from Grants, who recently passed away. He wrote:
My respiratory protection consisted of a single paper mask per
shift. The mask was useless after the first hour or so because
it was covered in yellow cake. Most of the rest of the shift, I
used a bandana to cover my face, but that stopped little of the
yellow cake dust from being inhaled. There was no real
protection from overexposure to radiation in the yellow cake
area.
To help those Americans who sacrificed so much for our
national security, Congress passed the RECA in 1990 and later
broadened the scope in 2000. Unfortunately, RECA currently
leaves behind too many New Mexicans and people all across
America. This includes downwind communities from the very first
nuclear test in New Mexico. It is just not right. This is just
one State. From 1945 to 1962, the United States conducted
nearly 200 atmospheric nuclear tests in the arsenal that became
the cornerstone of our Nation's Cold War. Downwinders in Idaho,
Colorado, Montana, Nevada, Utah, and Guam still await justice.
The mining and processing of uranium ore, which was essential
to the development of weapons, was conducted by tens of
thousands of workers from across the country. Far too many of
these workers are now sick and dying and were not included in
the original designation of RECA.
That is why we all have to come together. These people
deserve justice. That is why I have been proud to work on this
issue in the House, and I am now proud to work with Senator
Crapo in the Senate. It is a matter of fairness. When this
legislation is reintroduced in the House, I urge the Committee
to Act on it.
Mr. Chair, I will leave you with this. I had one elder
Navajo woman who made the journey to Washington, DC, to
testify, and she asked Congress one simple question: Are you
people waiting for us all to die so the problem goes away?
Remember those words from Gloria. We hope that you will
find a way to help us.
Mr. Chair, we came together in a bipartisan fashion, and we
passed the Zadroga Act. It was the right thing to do for fellow
Americans. We came together, and we passed legislation to
protect people from exposure that serve our country, veterans,
soldiers, from the burn pit exposure. It was the right thing to
do for fellow Americans. We can work on this issue with RECA.
Let's work together to make sure we are not leaving our fellow
Americans behind one more day. I thank the Committee for their
work, I look forward to working with you, and I pray that we
can get this done. With that, Mr. Chair, I yield back.
Mr. Cohen. Senator, let me thank you for your passion and
your explanation. We had a busy agenda last year, and I had
only a cursory perspective of this issue and thought of it as a
local issue. It is not a local issue. It is a national shame,
and I hope you will forgive me for not finding space to
schedule this hearing when you importuned me to do so.
Senator Lujan. Mr. Chair, you always fight for people, and
you make a difference in their lives. That is very gracious of
you. It is not necessary. We are here today, and I know that we
can find a bipartisan path forward to get this done. I
appreciate your words there, sir.
[The statement of Senator Lujan follows:]
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Mr. Cohen. Thank you, sir. I appreciate it.
Our next Witness is Representative Greg Stanton.
Congressman Stanton represents the Ninth Congressional District
of Arizona, having been elected to a second term in 2020.
Previously, he served as the mayor of Phoenix, Arizona, for 6
years and as a member of the Phoenix City Council for 9 years.
Congresswoman Stanton, you are recognized for 5 minutes.
STATEMENT OF THE HON. GREG STANTON
Mr. Stanton. Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Chair Cohen, Ranking Member Johnson, and distinguished
Members of the Subcommittee, I want to say thank you for the
opportunity to speak about an important issue that impacts the
lives of tens of thousands of people in my home State of
Arizona. For far too long, residents across northwestern
Arizona have been forgotten and victimized by the Federal
Government. In fact, today's hearing is the first time in more
than two decades that many Arizonans, known as downwinders,
have even had the opportunity to be heard in the House of
Representatives. I am hopeful that because of your leadership,
your support, today's hearing will be a much-needed turning
point in decades-long pursuit of justice for downwinders who
have suffered for the sake of our national security.
Let me provide a little background. From 1945 to 1992, as
part of our Nation's Cold War deterrence efforts, the Federal
Government conducted more than 1,000 atomic weapons development
tests. Nearly all of them were detonated at the former Atomic
Energy Commission Nevada test site, which is about 160 miles
northwest of Kingman, Arizona.
Of the tests done at the Nevada site, 100 were atmospheric
tests, which means they were detonated above ground and created
far-reaching nuclear fallout. The largest atmospheric test
yielded an energy force equivalent to 74,000 metric tons of
TNT. To put that in perspective, that is five times greater
than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. Visually, those
tests were about 150 times greater than the port explosion we
all saw in Beirut last year.
The sheer site of these tests was a marvel. There is a
reason I want you to think about the visual here. As you will
hear from one of the Witnesses today, families in Arizona would
gather together, and they would have bomb parties where they
would stand out in their front porches with neighbors or ride
on horseback out in their fields to watch the massive orange
mushroom clouds in the distance. They had no idea. They were
never told that they were being exposed to dangerous, cancer-
causing radiation.
As a direct result of the radiation exposure from these
tests, thousands of Arizonans have suffered from cancer, entire
families have suffered from cancer, and far too many have died.
In an attempt to compensate some families who were hurt,
Congress did create a program through the Radiation Exposure
Compensation Act to provide partial restitution. Affected
residents living in two of the closest counties east of the
test site, Mohave County, Arizona, and Clark County, Nevada,
were not included in the original designated affected area to
receive compensation. For these families, it is a cruel
injustice that ignores the reality that they have lived for
decades.
National Cancer Institute research shows that lower Mohave
County and lower Clark County have even higher rates of
radiation exposure compared to other parts of the country that
are already covered by RECA. The Arizona Department of Health
Services reports that Mohave County has one of the highest
average cancer rates in our State from 1990 to 2001.
As a Member of this Committee, I have worked tirelessly to
right this historic wrong and to advocate on behalf of these
Arizonans, and my office has heard an outpouring of stories
from families and loved ones that highlight the impact nuclear
testing has had on their lives. Matt Capalby, a third-
generation Mohave County resident, told me his father was a
county doctor for nearly 40 years. Growing up there, everyone
thought it was normal for adults to be diagnosed with cancer in
their 30s and 40s. Danielle Stephens, a lifelong Mohave County
resident, shared that 32 members of her extended family have
been diagnosed with cancer, and nearly 20 of them have died of
cancer before reaching the age of 55.
These are stories of family after family in Mohave County,
Arizona. Time is running out for these Americans, and it is
long past time that the Federal Government take responsibility
for its actions. It is time for Congress to take a hard look at
the boundaries created under RECA so that those living in
Mohave County and Clark County can finally receive the justice
that they deserve.
This is an important issue for Arizona, and so, Mr. Chair,
I would also like to ask unanimous consent to submit for the
record a statement from Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona in
support of these efforts to expand the RECA program.
Today, both sides of the aisle have a shared responsibility
to get this right and make no mistake: This is a bipartisan
issue. I know there are Members of the minority party in this
Congress who care about this issue just as much as I do.
So, thank you again, Chair Cohen and Ranking Member
Johnson, for holding this important hearing and allowing me the
opportunity to share these stories with the Subcommittee. I
yield back.
[The statement of Mr. Stanton follows:]
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Mr. Cohen. Thank you, Congressman Stanton. I appreciate
your bringing this issue to us again this year, and I
appreciate Mr. Kelly. Do you have a statement from him to be
entered into the record, Senator Kelly?
Mr. Stanton. Yes, I do, Chair Cohen.
Mr. Cohen. Without objection, that should be entered into
the record.
[The information follows:]
MR. STANTON FOR THE OFFICIAL RECORD
=======================================================================
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Mr. Stanton. Thank you.
Mr. Cohen. Thank you, Congressman Stanton.
I want to thank the Witnesses on our first panel, our
colleagues.
I now turn to the second panel. The Witnesses on the second
panel, please turn on your cameras at this time. I presume we
have had enough time.
Our first Witness on the second panel is Jonathan Nez. Mr.
Nez is President of the Navajo Nation. He was elected to that
position in 2018 and had previously served as vice President of
the Navajo Nation. President Nez received his Master of Public
Administration and his bachelor's degree from Northern Arizona
University.
President Nez, you are now recognized for 5 minutes.
STATEMENT OF JONATHAN NEZ
Mr. Nez. Chair Cohen, Ranking Member Ross, and Subcommittee
Members, I appreciate the opportunity to testify before the
Subcommittee on the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act passed
by Congress in 1990 and amended in 2000.
My name is Jonathan Nez. I am the President of the Navajo
Nation. I am here today to represent Navajo downwinders,
uranium workers, and many other Navajo families and descendants
who deserve fair and just compensation and healthcare for the
risks they took and the sacrifices they made for this country.
My testimony will focus on the Navajo Nation's experience
with Federal uranium extraction initiatives that were mentioned
earlier by our congressional representatives and our Senator
and the need to expand eligibility under RECA and extend the
life of the radiation exposure compensation program.
I want to preface my testimony by first sharing who and
where the Navajo Nation is located. The Navajo Nation is the
largest land-based American Indian Tribe in the country,
encompassing over 27,000 square miles that spans Arizona, New
Mexico, and Utah, with nearly 350,000 citizens, half of whom
reside on the Navajo Nation. With such a broad land base and
areas that lie within multijurisdictional boundaries, the
Navajo Nation encounters some of the most challenging obstacles
when it comes to providing for and meeting the needs of its
community, and that was highlighted throughout this pandemic.
The Navajo Nation has a deep, complicated uranium legacy.
From 1944 to 1986, approximately 30 million tons of uranium ore
was extracted from Navajo lands to support America's nuclear
activities, such as the U.S. military's Manhattan Project,
World War II, and the Cold War. At that time, the United States
Atomic Energy Commission was the sole purchaser of all uranium
ore mined in the United States until 1970.
Then, in 1979, an earthen dam was breached in Church Rock,
New Mexico, resulting in the largest release of radioactive
material in U.S. history. This uranium mill spill released more
than 1,100 tons of solid radioactive mill waste and 93 million
gallons of acidic radioactive tailings into the Puerco River,
sending radioactive waste into several Navajo communities,
threatening thousands of local residents. It has been 77 years
since the United States opened uranium mining on the Navajo
Nation and 42 years since the catastrophic Church Rock spill.
During this time, a uranium mining boom transpired from
these activities which led to the creation of hundreds of mines
on and around the Navajo Nation. This meant that many of our
Navajo people worked in these mines without proper safety
measures and without knowledge of the long-term effects that it
would have on them and their loved ones.
Once the Cold War ended and the Federal Government no
longer needed uranium ore to produce nuclear weapons, all of
these mines were abandoned without any reclamation, let alone
remediation.
There are approximately 524 abandoned uranium mine sites on
the Navajo Nation while the Navajo Nation estimates there could
be far, far more. Unfortunately, only 219 of these sites have
available funds for cleanup and remediation efforts, leaving a
total of 305 sites not being addressed, and that poses severe
environmental and health hazards to surrounding areas and
people.
Although there is approximately $1.7 billion to clean up
the 219 mine sites, it is not enough. The Navajo Nation
estimates that it will cost an additional $3.5 billion to
address the remaining 305 sites, which does not include the
cost of long-term monitoring and maintenance.
Last week, I had an opportunity to meet virtually with
advocates and several surviving uranium miners. As you know,
Navajo Nation has been hit hard with COVID-19, and we have lost
some of those post-1971 mine workers throughout this pandemic.
Over 1,200 of our Navajo people have lost their lives here on
the Navajo Nation due to this pandemic.
We met with Navajo government officials, including Mr.
Duane Johnson, who oversees the Navajo uranium workers program.
There, I heard an outcry of the need to expand RECA.
To summarize five key points and proposed changes to RECA,
number one, eligibility. Current RECA law only covers pre-1971
uranium workers. Post-1971 are ineligible. The RECA coverage
period should be extended to 1990 to provide fair compensation
and healthcare for the risks and sacrifices these workers and
their families made for this country.
Two, downwinders are ineligible. Coverage under RECA also
needs to be expanded to include all downwinders who have
suffered from uranium exposure. The Navajo Nation also supports
Navajo downwinders suffering the impacts from abandoned uranium
mines. RECA does not address the impacts of now elevated levels
of radiation in Navajo lands and drinking water sources.
Three, extend RECA's 2022 deadline. The program is
currently set to end in 2022 as was mentioned, and this
deadline must be extended to provide adequate time for claims
to be filed. In addition, a deadline extension is essential for
the Navajo Nation because of the unique difficulties
experienced by Native individuals in satisfying the
documentation requirements of the program; for example, lack of
broadband to file claims, verifying employees for companies no
longer in operation, and proof of residency since we don't have
rural addressing.
Four, expand eligibility to include additional categories
of workers and cancers. RECA coverage also should be expanded
to include additional categories of uranium mine workers, such
as core drillers and Department of Energy remediation workers.
Currently, only underground and surface workers are included.
RECA should also cover additional types of cancers,
particularly prostate and uterine cancer, as well as lung
disease and kidney failure, all of which are a high incidence
in the Navajo population.
Five, increase compensation cap to a $200,000 minimum. The
original cap of $100,000 per individual must be increased to at
least $200,000 to provide any fair measure of compensation as
recommended in previous--
Mr. Cohen. Mr. President, your 5 minutes has been up for a
while. I have just never stopped a president.
Mr. Nez. I am sorry. Mr. Chair and Members of the
Committee, one final thought. Just thanking the Navajo Uranium
Radiation Victims Committee to have worked tirelessly on that
with the Senators and the Representative, Phil Harris, Tommy
Reed, Harry Desiderio, Mary Kirlie, Leslie Begay, and many
others, including our very own Navajo Nation council delegate,
Amber Crotty. Thank you again for the opportunity to testify
before the Subcommittee, and I am open to answer any questions
you may have. Thank you.
[The statement of Mr. Nez follows:]
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Mr. Cohen. You are welcome. Thank you, Mr. President.
Our next Witness is Lilly Adams. Ms. Adams is an
independent consultant specializing in nuclear weapons issues.
She is the founder and coordinator of the Nuclear Voices
Project, which builds connection between nuclear policy
organizations and nuclear frontline communities and seeks to
amplify issues of nuclear justice. She has done consulting work
for the Union of Concerned Scientists and its global security
program and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Arms
Control Association. Ms. Adams holds a master's degree from the
University of California Berkeley in society and environment.
Ms. Adams, you are recognized for 5 minutes.
STATEMENT OF LILLY ADAMS
Ms. Adams. Thank you very much, Chair Cohen, Chair Nadler,
Ranking Member Johnson, and all Committee Members for the
opportunity to testify today. I would like to thank the many
individuals who supported this testimony, including many
Members of impacted communities, my colleagues at the Union of
Concerned Scientists, and a number of other researchers.
The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act is a valuable but
limited program that just begins to address the suffering and
harm caused by U.S. nuclear weapons testing and uranium mining.
Between 1945 and 1963, the U.S. Government conducted more than
200 aboveground nuclear weapons tests. One hundred of the tests
were at the Nevada test site, about 65 miles northwest of Las
Vegas. This exposed people near the site and across the United
States through inhalation of radioactive debris and ingestion
of contaminated food, especially milk.
Starting in the 1940s, the United States also greatly
expanded uranium mining and processing for the nuclear weapons
program in sites across the western United States. Workers were
exposed to radiation from gas and dust in the mines and
processing sites.
RECA begins to address the legacy of harm caused by testing
and mining by offering a governmental apology and providing
one-time compensation of $50,000 to $100,000 to individuals
with specific diseases presumed to have been caused by
radiation exposure. Compensation is available to some nuclear
testing downwinders to people onsite during tests, including
veterans, and to some uranium workers.
RECA was established in 1990, was minimally expanded in
1992, and again in 2000, but it has not been updated in 20
years. Meanwhile, people have been suffering while waiting for
compensation. This program is crucial and should be expanded.
The U.S. Government knew the potential for health risks from
radiation exposure, was urged to take precautions, but did not
take adequate steps to protect or inform U.S. residents or
monitor their health.
In the case of nuclear testing, the government often
dismissed and suppressed information about contamination and
exposure and downplayed the risks of tests to nearby residents,
even encouraging people to watch them. Uranium workers were
also not told about their deadly working conditions, and the
U.S. Government generally did not enforce even simple safety
measures, such as adequate mine ventilation, even after
receiving explicit recommendations to do so and even after
miners began getting sick and dying at alarming rates.
Without their knowledge or consent, many thousands of
people paid the ultimate price, their health and their lives,
to allow the United States to produce nuclear weapons.
In 1982, over 1,000 downwinders sued the U.S. Government,
seeking compensation for these harms. The Federal court ruled
that the government had, indeed, been negligent in monitoring
off-site exposures and informing people of the risks. However,
the ruling was overturned by the U.S. Government, which
asserted it could not be held liable, which, in part, led
Congress to finally create RECA.
RECA, in its current form, has many shortcomings. Most
urgently, RECA is set to expire in July of 2022. After that, no
claims can be made. This is unjust both because cancers caused
by this radiation exposure can take decades to appear and
because some still do not know they are eligible due to
insufficient community outreach and assistance.
Additionally, compensation amounts for RECA have remained
unchanged over the last 30 years and are minimal, often not
even covering the cost of cancer care. RECA does not cover
uranium workers after 1971, even though the U.S. continued to
purchase domestically produced uranium and working conditions
continued to gravely threaten worker health.
Multiple studies provide strong evidence that the full
population of people who are exposed to nuclear testing are not
currently covered. As a result, proposals have been put forward
to add parts or all of Idaho, Montana, Colorado, New Mexico,
Utah, Nevada, Arizona, and Guam to the program. In addition,
while RECA currently covers people who were onsite for nuclear
tests, it does not cover the veterans and civilians who cleaned
up radioactive material left behind by tests and nuclear
accidents.
Finally, the list of presumptive diseases and eligible
occupations should be reviewed and updated to reflect the
latest scientific research.
In summary, RECA is currently falling short. These
communities who have suffered decades of painful cancers and
other illnesses, often devastating whole families, even whole
communities, deserve compensation and care from their
government. We have an opportunity to help them.
While I am grateful to be able to provide an overview of
these issues, I also urge the Committee to read the testimonies
of these community members who have experienced this issue
firsthand. Many of their stories are being submitted into the
record, and it is so important that they are heard.
I would like to end with a quote from Linda Evers, who
worked in a uranium mill in Grants, New Mexico, from 1976 to
1982 and so is currently excluded from RECA, she says: We were
told every day that we were working to secure the freedom of
every American in this country, and it seems that it is a harsh
reality that the country we gave our lives for continues to
ignore us now when we need our government to help us.
Thank you.
[The statement of Ms. Adams follows:]
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Mr. Cohen. Thank you, Ms. Adams. I appreciate your life's
work and your testimony.
Our next Witness is Jean Bishop. Ms. Bishop is a member of
the Mohave County, Arizona, Board of Supervisors, where she
represents the supervisor of District 4. She has held this
position since the year 2014, plus a number of other public
service positions throughout her career, including as deputy
sheriff and sergeant of the Mohave County Sheriff's Office, a
commander of the Mohave County Air Search Squadron, and a
captain in the Chloride Volunteer Fire Department. Ms. Bishop
holds a degree in applied science from Mohave Community College
as well as a number of other professional and technical
certifications.
Ms. Bishop, you are recognized for 5 minutes.
STATEMENT OF JEAN BISHOP
Ms. Bishop. Thank you, Mr. Chair, and Members of the
Subcommittee, and thank you for the opportunity to provide this
testimony this morning.
As you noted, my name is Jean Bishop, and I am the
Supervisor of District 4, Mohave County Board of Supervisors,
here in Arizona. My testimony is unique in that my statements
are on behalf of the citizens of our county and also
individually, as both my family and I have been impacted by the
nuclear testing conducted at the Nevada proving grounds.
For years, the Arizona congressional delegation has
supported legislation that would amend the RECA to recognize
the many Mohave County residents that worked and lived downwind
from the nuclear testing sites and were adversely affected by
the radiation exposure that was generated by this ground
nuclear weapons testing that occurred outside of Las Vegas,
Nevada.
In addition, the Board of Supervisors has adopted four
different resolutions supporting Federal legislation and
requested amendments to be made to the radiation exposure
screening and education program. With the pending expiration
and hopefully renewal of RECA, now would be the perfect time to
amend the boundaries of the covered areas and include all of
Mohave County, which, coincidentally, is a neighboring county
located to the east of Las Vegas, Nevada.
I wanted to tell you a little bit about my personal story,
which begins when I was just a baby. Atomic explosions filled
the sky near my family home outside of Las Vegas, Nevada. It
was in the early 1950s when my family lived downwind from the
government nuclear test sites and later moved to Mohave County.
Between 1951, which was my birth year, and 1963, the United
States Government, through the Atomic Energy Commission,
detonated hundreds of these nuclear bombs near our home in the
Nevada desert. Over and over, my parents were told that the
testing was safe as our family stood on the front porch and
watched in horror as the sky filled with dust.
At the time, we were encouraged to celebrate the advances
of our government, and we did. Unfortunately, we were blind for
the fact that radioactive fallout would kill and sicken
numerous members of our family. Regrettably, the radioactive
fallout not only impacted our family but families for hundreds
of miles surrounding the test site.
My immediate family members that were impacted include my
oldest sister, Judy. She died of a brain cancer in 1968. I was
diagnosed with breast cancer in 2013, and during my treatment a
year later, my sister was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2014.
Then my husband was diagnosed with prostate cancer, and that
was in 1998. At last count, 32 people of my husband's family
have died from various types of cancer. Currently, his younger
sister, who was mentioned earlier by Congressman Stanton,
Danielle Stevens, is in her final days fighting Stage 4 colon
cancer.
My husband worked on the family cattle ranch during the
testing period, and they all watched the clouds move from the
test site downwind across the sparsely populated areas as they
would ride their horses up on the mountaintops to watch.
Everyone on the ranch was given radiation detectors by the
government to wear on their clothes while they are out doing
their cowboy duties. This was to measure radioactivity. So, the
government knew that there was radioactivity being spread
downwind. The cowboys and the ranchers thought they were being
patriotic and helping their country. Unfortunately, they were
never provided the results of those measurements.
So, Congress created this RECA act. It is a program that
would provide partial restitution to individuals who developed
illnesses after this radiation exposure. I am certain that the
Committee Members are aware that the Act still doesn't include
part of Clark County immediately adjacent to the testing site
and the southern part of Mohave County, which is directly
downwind, even though the cancer rates here are much higher.
RECA has included counties that are further east and southeast
to both Mohave and Clark Counties. So, you will see behind me
is a map that kind of points out the areas that RECA covers,
and I see that I am running out of town--out of time. So, my
question to the Committee is, how could this radiation fallout
be so precise to miss portions of Clark County and Mohave
County, yet previous determinations found that counties located
further east were more substantially impacted by the nuclear
testing?
Mr. Chair and Subcommittee Members, I respectfully request
that you extend RECA and expand the coverage area to include
Clark County and Mohave County. Thank you for your time, and I
yield.
[The statement of Ms. Bishop follows:]
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Mr. Cohen. Thank you, Supervisor Bishop.
Our next Witness is Scott Szymendera. He is an analyst in
disability policy with the Congressional Research Service, a
position he has held since 2005. He has testified on at least
five prior occasions before various congressional committees,
including the 2014 field hearing entitled ``The Forgotten
Downwinders: Amending the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act
to Remedy an Injustice.''
Mr. Szymendera received his Ph.D. and M.A. in political
science from Michigan State University and his B.A. from the
University of Maryland in College Park.
You are now recognized for 5 minutes, sir.
STATEMENT OF SCOTT D. SZYMENDERA
Mr. Szymendera. Thank you. Chair Cohen, Vice-Chair Ross,
Ranking Members Jordan and Johnson, and Members of the
Subcommittee, my name is Scott Szymendera, and I am an analyst
at the Congressional Research Service. Thank you for inviting
CRS to testify today at today's hearing on the Radiation
Exposure Compensation Act, or RECA, and possible expansions of
RECA eligibility. A longer statement has been submitted for the
record.
Since its enactment in 1990, RECA has paid out nearly $2.5
billion in benefits on more than 37,000 claims filed by and on
behalf of onsite participants, downwinders, and uranium workers
currently covered by the act. Pursuant to the 2000 RECA
amendments, the RECA program is scheduled to sunset on July 10,
2022, and absent congressional action to reauthorize the
program, no new claims for benefits will be accepted by the
Department of Justice after that date. The Fiscal Year 2021
William M. ``Mac'' Thornberry National Defense Authorization
Act included a provision expressing the sense of Congress that
the RECA program should continue beyond its 2022 sunset date.
On July 16, 1945, the United States detonated the first
atomic bomb at the Trinity at the time site near Alamogordo,
New Mexico, ushering in an era of extensive development and
testing of atomic weapons that would last until 1992. During
this period, the United States conducted 1,054 atomic weapons
tests, including 100 atmospheric tests at the Nevada test site.
The largest atomic weapons tests were conducted at various
locations in the Pacific Ocean region, including Bikini Atoll
and Enewetak Atoll in the Marshall Islands.
Attempts to use the courts to recover damages from atomic
weapons testing from the Federal Government and its contractors
were unsuccessful due to the sovereign immunity of the United
States and congressional action to immunize contractors. The
first legislation to provide benefits to Americans affected by
atomic weapons testing was introduced in 1979, and these
efforts culminated in 1990 with the passage of the Radiation
Exposure Compensation Act. RECA pays benefits to onsite
participants and downwinders with cancer specified in the act.
Onsite participants are persons who physically participated in
an atmospheric weapons test or who engaged in certain cleanup
and decontamination work after a test. Onsite participants are
eligible for one-time payments of $75,000. Downwinders are
persons who lived in designated areas in Arizona, Nevada, and
Utah during atmospheric testing at the Nevada test site.
Downwinders are eligible for one-time payments of $50,000. RECA
also pays $100,000 to uranium miners, millers, and ore
transporters with specified diseases linked to work performed
before 1972. Each onsite participant, downwinder, or uranium
worker is eligible for one benefit, which may be paid to them
directly or to their survivors after their deaths.
As RECA nears its 2022 sunset date, there are several areas
of possible eligibility expansion that may be considered by
Congress and that have been the subject of legislation in the
116th and 117th Congresses. An expansion of eligibility for
onsite participants could include eligibility for the
approximately 8,000 service-members and civilians who
participated in the cleanup of Enewetak Atoll between 1977 and
1980.
The geographic eligibility area for downwinders related to
the Nevada tests could be expanded to include areas such as the
southern portions of Clark County, Nevada, and Mohave County,
Arizona, that are not currently part of the downwinder area.
New downwinder areas could be created in New Mexico and Guam
for persons affected by the Trinity tests and tests in the
Pacific.
The eligibility of uranium workers could be expanded to
cover work performed after 1971 when the Federal Government's
purchasing of uranium for the atomic weapons program ended and
uranium mining and processing was largely conducted for
commercial customers. More detail on each of these expansion
proposals, including possible opposition to these proposals
based on the congressionally mandated report by the National
Research Council and the legislative intent of the RECA
legislation, is covered in more detail in my written testimony.
This concludes my testimony. I would be happy to answer any
questions from the Subcommittee.
[The statement of Mr. Szymendera follows:]
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Mr. Cohen. Thank you for your faithful Federal employment
and your testimony today.
Our final Witness is Tina Cordova. In 2005, she cofounded
the Tularosa Basin downwinders Consortium. The consortium's
mission is to bring attention to the negative health effects
suffered by the victims of the first nuclear blast on Earth
that took place at the Trinity site in south-central New Mexico
and to pass amendments to the Radiation Exposure Compensation
Act to bring healthcare coverage and compensation to the people
of New Mexico who have suffered with the health effects of
overexposure to radiation since 1945. She is a cancer survivor,
having been diagnosed with thyroid cancer when she was 39 years
of age. Ms. Cordova holds a Master of Science and a bachelor of
science degree from New Mexico Highlands University. She
majored in biology and minored in chemistry.
Ms. Cordova, you are recognized for 5 minutes.
STATEMENT OF TINA CORDOVA
Ms. Cordova. Chair Cohen, Ranking Members Jordan and
Johnson, Members of the Subcommittee, and Representative
Stanton, it is an honor and a privilege to provide this
testimony on behalf of the many people I represent, not only in
New Mexico but across the United States and the Pacific
Islands, like my sisters and brothers in Idaho and Guam. Thank
you for inviting me to participate.
I want to especially acknowledge our champion, Senator
Lujan. I firmly believe this hearing is a result of your dogged
persistence and dedication to this issue. You told us that you
would stand with us, and you have lived up to your word, sir,
and we honor you.
My name is Tina Cordova. I am a Native New Mexican, a
downwinder, and a cancer survivor. I am also a community
organizer and a cofounder of the Tularosa Basin Downwinders
Consortium, or TBDC, for short. We have been working for 16
years to bring attention to the negative health effects
suffered by the people of New Mexico as a result of their
overexposure to radiation from the first atomic bomb test that
took place at the Trinity site at New Mexico on July 16, 1945.
The Trinity test was the culmination of the top-secret
Manhattan Project. Most people know the history of the project
and the test, but few people know anything of the ensuing
destruction of human health that took place after the test. It
is our hope that, through this testimony and the written
testimony already submitted, each of you will become more
informed of the toll this took on the American citizens that
lived in close proximity to the test site. Our ultimate goal is
for the U.S. Congress to acknowledge the sacrifice and
suffering of their fellow Americans and extend healthcare
coverage and compensation to the people of New Mexico and other
downwinders through amendments to the Radiation Exposure
Compensation Act.
The U.S. Government has always described the area around
the Trinity site as remote and uninhabited. We know from Census
data that there were an estimated 40,000 men, women, and
children living in a 50-mile radius to the test site. There
were ranching families that lived as close as 12 miles.
The bomb at Trinity had some unique qualities that produced
significant fallout. It was the only bomb ever tested on a
platform 100 feet off the ground, and it was highly
inefficient. A full 10 pounds of plutonium with a half-life of
24,000 years went up in a fire ball that exceeded the
atmosphere and penetrated the stratosphere.
For days, a radioactive ash fell from the sky and settled
on everything, the soil and the water and the air on the plants
and on the skin of every living thing. It was a public health
disaster of grand proportions. People also lived off the land.
They had no running water, and they used cisterns to collect
rainwater for drinking, cooking, et cetera. They depended on
the Earth, the soil, the water to produce all the food they
ate. They had gardens and orchards, and they raised animals for
food. We were never warned before or after the test about the
dangers of the bomb.
It is patently false that those in charge of the test
didn't know that people living in the small communities around
the test site would be harmed. They did, but they chose secrecy
and then denial over the well-being of American citizens, and
it cost those citizens their lives, their futures, and their
economic security. Most people affected were Hispanos,
indigenous people of color, including those living on the
Mescalero Apache Reservation, 40 miles east of the test site.
The most difficult truth we must all face is the fact we
had casualties from the Trinity test, and they were our babies.
There was a sharp rise in infant mortality after the Trinity
test. Babies in New Mexico were dying at an alarming rate. When
we were losing our babies, and it was reported to the
government, we were refused assistance. This is unconscionable
and actually a total outrage.
The test was the beginning of the end for so many people,
people like my own father, who was a 4-year-old child living in
Tularosa, a village about 40 miles south of the Trinity site.
As a result of his overexposure, he paid the ultimate price for
simply being a child raised in a downwind community. My father,
Anastacio Cordova, died after suffering for more than 8 years
with three different cancers for which he had no risk factors.
He didn't smoke, drink, use chewing tobacco, or have any
viruses. Yet he developed two distinctly different rare oral
cancers along with prostate cancer.
My father was a strong man in mind and body. He grew up
that way, always living in the shadow of his own father who was
killed in Germany during World War II. As a result of my
father's first cancer, he had to have part of his tongue
removed at the base of his throat. He had a feeding tube for
over 18 months because he couldn't swallow. My father, who had
the most amazing voice, couldn't sing any more or whistle which
is what he did as he went about his days. He recovered only to
develop prostate cancer and then, after 8 years, another
cancerous lesion on the front of his tongue. We couldn't
believe it after all he had been through.
My father fought the good fight, but he lost his battle to
cancer. I will never forget the day he told me he was ready to
die. He couldn't speak anymore, and he mouthed the words. I was
with my dad that March evening when he took his last breath. It
forever changed me. I am not the same person. I often weep as I
think about it.
As I deliver this testimony, I am currently assisting my
dad's older sister, who is 81 years old, prepare for breast
cancer surgery and follow-up treatment. Cancer and the horrific
treatment associated with it is well known to her.
Unfortunately, she lost her husband and her brother, my dad,
within a few months of each other to cancer.
There is no doubt my father and his sister were overexposed
to high levels of radiation from the Trinity test. It also
damaged and altered their DNA. Those genetics were passed on to
me, and it may be why I developed thyroid cancer when I was 39,
or it may be because I and all the people of New Mexico were
exposed to radiation as a result of the testing that took place
at the Nevada test site well documented through the summer of
1962.
Living in rural New Mexico, we can never get treatment at
home because there are no medical facilities in the small towns
where we live. New Mexico has the highest per capita use of
Medicaid to access healthcare coverage of any State in the
United States. We know from surveying downwinders that many of
them use Medicaid.
Mr. Cohen. Ms. Cordova, Ms. Cordova, your time is way over.
If I may ask some questions--
Ms. Cordova. Can I just close? Can I just close, sir?
The late, great Congressman John Lewis, a treasured
colleague of yours, once said: When you see something that is
not right, not fair, not just, you have to speak up. You have
to say something. You have to do something.
We totally agree with Congresswoman Lewis. We firmly
believe there is a moral and ethical imperative to right this
wrong. We believe that, after carrying this burden for over 75
years, we should be granted the same treatment as other
downwinders received through RECA.
There is a path to healing for us and for all the
downwinders left out. It starts with the recognition of our
service and our sacrifice to our great Nation and is complete
only when we are afforded the exact same care and coverage as
other downwinders. Not one dime more, not one dime less. Thank
you, sir.
[The statement of Ms. Cordova follows:]
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Mr. Cohen. Thank you, Ms. Cordova. Thank you.
We will now proceed under the 5-minute Rule with questions.
I will begin by recognizing myself for 5 minutes.
Ms. Cordova, it is surprising to me that, even though New
Mexico was the birthplace of the atomic bomb and the first
nuclear weapons test occurred there, New Mexico downwinders are
currently ineligible for compensation under RECA, despite what
seems like the obvious connection between the government's
nuclear test and exposure to radiation. How has your community
been impacted by the government's nuclear activities, and how
is this similar to the circumstances of those already eligible
for RECA?
Ms. Cordova. Well, sir, the thing that has to be first
recognized is that it was the first test ever conducted and
because of that there were a lot of unknowns, but the thing
that they did know is that people would be affected, and they
did nothing to actually remove us or relocate us during the
test procedure. We have been highly overexposed.
Exposure to radiation is a factor of distance and time, and
we had people living as close as 12 miles to the test site, 20
miles, 25 miles, 30 miles, and so our exposure was very, very
high. We don't have medical facilities in all those little
towns, so people have to leave from where they live to get
taken care of.
Just, like I said, we have the highest use of Medicaid of
any State in the union, 47 percent of the people in New Mexico
use Medicaid to access healthcare. I know because we have
surveyed Downwinders in many of those communities that people
utilize Medicaid to access healthcare coverage and I know that
uranium miners do as well.
So, I guess, my answer to your question is, we have
suffered greatly. We have high instance of cancer and other
diseases associated with radiation exposure and we often times
get diagnosed much later in the disease process because we
don't have access to healthcare coverage, and what that means
is our prognosis is reduced.
The other thing I want to point out that we brought up
early on during the pandemic is that when you are a Downwinder
or a uranium miner and you have been exposed and you have
underlying conditions, you don't fair very well inside of a
pandemic like what we have been experiencing.
President Nez mentioned earlier the deaths on the Navajo
reservation and the number of uranium miners that have died. I
know it is because of their underlying conditions. I know it is
because their immune systems are compromised. I know it is
because they have all sorts of underlying problems. So, we
don't fair very well also inside of the pandemic. I hope that
answers the questions that you asked.
Mr. Cohen. Thank you, Ms. Cordova.
President Nez, Navajo and other Native American communities
have been particularly impacted in various ways by the
Government's nuclear activities, whether directly or
indirectly, including with respect to nuclear testing and
uranium mine.
How is the uranium mining industry, which is fostered by
the U.S. Government impact not only the individuals work the
uranium industry, but also their communities and do you think
as there was a large number of Native American communities
affected by these blasts that there was discrimination and
basically racial neglect inequities as the cause for RECA not
extending to so many people in the Navajo Nation.
Mr. Nez. Thank you for that question, Chair, and Members of
the Committee.
Let me just piggyback off the first question with Ms.
Cordova. Navajo's and many Indian tribes throughout the country
are Downwinders in two ways. Navajo, the blast, the testing,
downwind, we get a lot of wind in the southwest as you know.
The other is the open uranium mines that are all scattered
throughout our Nation. The winds pick up the radiation and
takes it eastbound, the direction of the wind.
So, it doesn't just hit Navajos, it hits non-Navajo people
along the way and with the--I believe that now is the time,
Chair, to change some, including RECA, but also some of the
regulations in the policies that oversee Tribal Nations. There
is just so much bureaucracy, and I will share with you and the
Committee a White paper that the Navajo Nation has developed.
We learned some items during the CARES Act distribution of
those barriers to improve the quality of life for our Navajo
people, and one of those is building healthcare facilities.
Did you know, Chair and Members of the Committee, there is
only one and it is a small facility, one cancer treatment
facility in all Indian country, in Tuba City, Arizona, the
Navajo Nation. I just wanted to end my comments with that, and
I think there is going to be an opportunity here for more
economic and community development, especially with the--and I
appreciate the Committee and the Congress for approving the
American recovery--American Rescue Plan Act and also the
discussion about infrastructure because we need infrastructure
here on Navajo.
So, thank you, Chair and Members of the Committee.
Mr. Cohen. Let me do ask you--you didn't answer the
question and maybe you didn't want to answer you the question
and maybe it is just a foolish question, but do you think there
any racism concerning Native Americans? There has been neglect
for hundreds of years, and there has been all kinds of--we took
your land. That was where we started, and it is a bad place to
start. Do you think that was part of why this hasn't been as
fair as it should be?
Mr. Nez. Well, look at it this way, Chair and Members of
the Committee, in the most powerful country in the world, 30-40
percent of our Navajo people don't have running water. So,
there is a problem here in this country. I appreciate the
national media attention to educate the U.S. citizenry and also
to educate Members of Congress.
So, yeah, there is some racism if you want to call it that,
some inequalities based toward people of color. Of course, I
think because I see it every day here in Indian country. Thank
you.
Mr. Cohen. Thank you, Mr. President. I can see why you are
Mr. President.
I have taken up my 5 minutes.
Mr. Johnson, are you available for questioning?
Mr. Johnson of Louisiana. I am, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Cohen. You are recognized for 5 minutes, sir.
Mr. Johnson of Louisiana. Thank you. I had a couple of
questions for Mr. Szymendera, but before I do that, I just
wanted to reset the table. There has a been a lot of facts and
figures that have been shared here in the last hour or so.
So, Mr. Szymendera, just at the outset, can you briefly
describe just for us to reset the three main groups that are
eligible for compensation under RECA?
Mr. Szymendera. Certainly, Congressman. The three main
groups are on-site participants. These are people who were
physically present at one of the atmospheric tests. It could
have been at Trinity, New Mexico; at Nevada test site; or at
one of the locations in the Pacific. They were onsite during
the test, or they were onsite in the 6 months after the test
performing cleanup work or performing decontamination work on
equipment or in the Pacific on the naval ships that were
involved. So, that is on-site participants. That is $75,000
one-time payment.
Downwinders are people who lived in the designated areas
adjacent to or near the Nevada test site during periods of
atmospheric testing either for 1 or 2 years in the 1950s or for
the entire duration of testing in the summer of 1962. The
Downwinders are eligible for $50,000.
The final category are uranium miners, millers, and ore
transporters who worked before 1972 and who have specified
diseases. The uranium workers are eligible for $100,000. In
addition, there is a separate law called EEOICPA, the Energy
Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act that is
administered by the Department of Labor. Under EEOICPA, the
uranium workers, only the uranium workers, are eligible for
additional benefits and medical benefits, but those are not
provided by RECA; those are provided through EEOICPA.
So, those are your three categories and an overview of the
benefits available.
Mr. Johnson of Louisiana. Very good. So, you mentioned the
uranium workers. Now, let me ask about the other category, the
on-site weapons test participants. Are there other Federal
agencies that they are eligible to receive benefits from or
other Federal laws?
Mr. Szymendera. If they participate in the test while
serving in the military, they are eligible perhaps for benefits
from the Department of Veterans Affairs under the Radiation-
Exposed Veterans Compensation Act, or REVCA, and there is an
offset so that they cannot receive the full amount of both RECA
and veterans' benefits. There is an offset there. Generally,
no. For on-site participants, the only Federal compensation
would be through RECA. That other law that I mentioned EEOICPA,
while it does cover some of the same areas, for example, the
Nevada test site is also an EEOICPA site, that is for those
involved in the development, not the testing. So, the actual
building/manufacturing of the weapons.
Mr. Johnson of Louisiana. Is an EEOICPA recipient, uranium
workers, is that an offset also with RECA? How do they
interact?
Mr. Szymendera. No, it is not an offset, quite frankly. It
is an addition. They receive an additional benefit under
EEOICPA and they receive health benefits for the covered health
condition. It is important to understand that RECA is a one-
time cash payment, no healthcare benefits. EEOICPA healthcare
benefits extended to the uranium workers.
Mr. Johnson of Louisiana. Okay. I am out of time, or real
close to it. Real quick question, do you have--
Mr. Cohen. You have a minute to go.
Mr. Johnson of Louisiana. Thank you. Do you have a rough
estimate of the number of individuals who are eligible for RECA
compensation who haven't yet received it?
Mr. Szymendera. I don't have that information. I think that
is a factor of outreach efforts. Remember, many of the
claimants now and certainly the Department of Justice would be
the best source of this data, we are now dealing with in many
cases claimants who are children or even grandchildren of
Downwinders, on-site participants, or uranium workers.
Many of them may live outside of the southwest at this
point. They may not have even heard of this program or they may
have only just heard of it. There is a process by which you
have to apply gathering evidence which can take time. An
estimate of how many are sort of still out there that haven't
been reached, I think that would best come from the Department
of Justice as the program administrator.
Mr. Johnson of Louisiana. Is it fair to say--and I know I
am near out of time now, but is it fair to say that some of the
ailments and diseases that come from this would be passed
through the blood stream; in other words, their genetics, so
that even a grandchild might have a valid claim or is that a
disputed fact?
Mr. Szymendera. Well, certainly second generation or even
third generation factors there certainly have been scientific
research on that, but that is not part of RECA eligibility at
all. A grandchild is only applying on behalf of the
grandparent.
Mr. Johnson of Louisiana. Okay. Got it.
Thank you for the clarification.
I yield back.
Mr. Cohen. Thank you, Mr. Johnson.
Ms. Ross, the Vice Chair of the Committee is recognized for
5 minutes.
Ms. Ross. Thank you very much, Mr. Chair, and thank you so
much to our colleagues for bringing this important issue to our
attention and to Chair for holding the hearing.
My question doesn't necessarily go to the nitty-gritty of
who is eligible right now, but it goes to the long-term lasting
effects of this program and the health consequences.
So, first, Ms. Cordova, I wanted to know how have the
adverse health effects caused by the testing created further
economic problems in your area?
Ms. Cordova. Thank you very much, Congresswoman Ross, for
the question. I mentioned earlier that we don't have healthcare
facilities in the small towns where we live and New Mexico is
very rural, and because of that, we don't get diagnosed or
treated in the places where we live.
What that means is, we have to travel great distances for
our care, sometimes out of State. Families have told me that
they spend everything that they have to take care of their
health and, honestly, I have had people tell me I maxed out my
credit cards, I took out my retirement, I have no assets left.
My children are sending me credit cards, so I can buy gas
to get to El Paso for treatment and most days I wish I would
just die so I am not a burden to my family any longer. We don't
have the opportunity to accumulate any kind of generational
wealth.
As I said before, 47 percent of the people in New Mexico
depend on Medicaid to access healthcare coverage. A great
number of them are Downwinders. We have collected over a
thousand health surveys from people so that we can document
these stories since our government's never done that. It is
amazing how many of them rely on Medicaid. They have no
options. They have exhausted their options.
So, if you have nothing to pass on, we get locked into a
cycle of poverty that just continues. This compensation would
help in many ways. We are especially in favor of extending
healthcare coverage because we think that is more important
even than the one-time payout. Imagine if you have multiple
members of one family sick at the same time and it happens all
the time with us, this becomes an enormous financial burden.
It has been a financial burden to families, to communities,
and to our State, quite honestly.
Ms. Ross. Okay. Thank you very much.
Does anybody else want to address this issue from the
perspective of either their tribe or their area, the ongoing
economic strive caused by the health effects?
If not, Mr. Chair, I yield back.
Mr. Cohen. Thank you, Ms. Ross.
Is there anybody on the Republican side seeking time? If
not, Mr. Hank Johnson, is recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. Johnson of Georgia. Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you
for holding this very important hearing. The birth of this
Nation began with the ideal that all people were endowed with
certain inalienable rights, those being life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness, but since then we have fallen short of
this promise more times than I care to admit.
Some of us, including indigenous people, were not
considered to be people at all. Similarly, many people who live
or lived in areas adversely impacted by our country's testing
of nuclear weapons have been treated less than humanely and
have suffered great sickness and death due to their unknowing
exposure to radiation caused by the testing of nuclear weapons
by our government.
Nuclear weapons have been an important component of U.S.
national security ever since they were developed back during
the World War II. Members of certain areas, residents of
certain areas have borne the brunt of the U.S. reliance on
nuclear weapons because those nuclear weapons had to be tested
and they were in the areas where the radiation impacted their
lives, the covered areas, if you will.
So, our capacity as Americans to hold ourselves accountable
and reflect is what allows us to make progress and the
Radiation Exposure Compensation Act was a step towards
accountability.
It was an acknowledgement that we, as a country, have
fallen short and we took actions to help those who have been
harmed, those who were impacted adversely, no-fault of their
own and unwittingly and unknowingly to nuclear fallout.
Radiation has hurt, sickened, and killed them.
Ms. Adams, as far as Downwinders are concerned under the
original RECA legislation, are there any people in your
community who were left out, and if so, why as being eligible
for compensation under RECA.
Ms. Adams. Thank you very much for the question. I can try
to give an overview of some of the communities that have been
left out who would fall under the Downwinder category. So,
first, there are counties as Ms. Bishop said earlier in Arizona
and Nevada that are very close to the test site that are not
currently included. Then other studies have shown since RECA
was created, notably by the--started by the National Cancer
Institute that showed that exposure levels in counties far
beyond the test site in States not just those closest to the
test site, but as far as places like Idaho and Montana received
as high or even higher levels of radiation exposure.
So, there have been proposals as well to include those
kinds of areas that were not originally recognized to have
received that kind of fallout. Some of the other communities
that have been mentioned in terms of Downwinder eligibility
areas include Guam, which has been noted to be exposed from
radiation from the Pacific--testing on Pacific Islands and, of
course, as Ms. Cordova has stated in New Mexico, which they
have said has been exposed both in the Trinity test and from
testing at the Nevada test site. Go ahead.
Mr. Johnson of Georgia. Excuse me for interrupting. How
many people would be covered if the coverage area were
expanded?
Ms. Adams. I don't have that information offhand. That is a
hard number to pinpoint. I will say all of those are separate
proposals and they would all need to be addressed to figure out
just what the different populations would be, but I don't have
that information on hand. I can try to follow-up though and get
that information to your office.
Mr. Johnson of Georgia. Would you say it would be 10,000 or
less than 10,000?
Ms. Adams. It is very hard to pinpoint--so far the number
of Downwinders who have applied is around 25,000 in the States
that are there, but it would be--I am sorry I can't provide a
more precise number, but it would be very hard to pinpoint
exactly.
Mr. Cohen. Thank you, Mr. Johnson.
Mr. Johnson of Georgia. Okay. I heard a figure, Mr. Chair,
if I could. I heard the figure $2.5 billion in claims have been
paid out thus far to 37,000 claimants, $2.5 billion.
The cost of maintaining our nuclear weapons over the next
10 years will be $494 billion, almost $50 billion a year. So,
$50 billion a year to take care of our nuclear weapons and over
the time that this Act has been in place, we have spent $2.5
billion to compensate folks who have been adversely impacted by
radiation.
That is just a pittance, and it is pathetic that our values
are more towards protecting and taking care of our weapons than
we are with taking care of the people who were adversely
impacted by the testing of those weapons.
With that, I will yield back. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Cohen. You are welcome, Mr. Johnson.
Ms. Fischbach, I owe you an apology. I didn't realize you
were there and if I would have, I would have recognized you
then, but there is a legal term, nunc pro tunc. So, now for
them. You are recognized for 5 minutes.
Ms. Fischbach. Well, and Mr. Chair, thank you. If you
hadn't pointed it out, I wouldn't have even realized you
skipped me. I don't have any questions at this time, so I yield
back. Thank you.
Mr. Cohen. Well, beat that one. Thank you. Who is next? I
believe Ms. Sheila Jackson Lee, are you here?
Ms. Jackson Lee. I am.
Mr. Cohen. Ms. Jackson Lee is recognized for 5 minutes.
Ms. Jackson Lee. Thank you so very much, Mr. Chair. Let me
thank all the Witnesses as well that have been here and let me
begin point-blank as I listen to Mr. Johnson's question, Mr.
Johnson from Louisiana, I am glad that he had the annunciation
of the various individuals that were eligible for compensation,
and it seems to be rather narrow.
President Nez, if I am pronouncing your name correctly,
tell me what it means in your community to have eligibility
limited to on-site participants, Downwinders in certain
designated areas in certain years, uranium miners and millers,
and then opportunities for compensation from the Department of
Labor, but what does it mean to your community? What do we need
to do in terms of marginalizing the RECA response?
Mr. Nez. Thank you, Chair, and thank you, Representative
Lee, and Committee Members. That is an excellent question. Our
recommendations for updating RECA that I mentioned during the
onset in my initial testimony indicates that there needs to be
some changes.
Here on the Navajo Nation, we don't have the best--well, I
guess, in any rural community throughout the United States do
not have the best internet connection and also here on the
Navajo Nation, we don't have street address like others have
throughout the country. People get their mail from the P.O.
boxes and sometimes multigenerational people utilize one box.
So, it is very difficult to have our Navajo uranium workers
or Downwinders, those that are wanting compensation to apply
for this just compensation, this fair compensation. So those
are the reasons why we are asking for some changes to the law
to update it. I wanted to go real quick--
Ms. Jackson Lee. If you would, Mr. Nez, I have other
questions. Can you hear me?
Mr. Nez. Oh, I am sorry. Go ahead.
Ms. Jackson Lee. If you would summarize, I would appreciate
it. I want to hear your answer.
Mr. Nez. Right. Right. Here on the Navajo Nation,
equivalent to the size of West Virginia, 27,000 square miles we
only have a little bit over 10 healthcare facilities. A lot of
those healthcare facilities do not have specialization for
cancer treatment.
Just as Ms. Cordova said, they have to go to Albuquerque,
they have to go to Phoenix, and that takes a lot, wear and tear
on a vehicle, also getting gas, and spending time to get away
from their families. Sometimes they have to get admitted.
Ms. Jackson Lee. Thank you.
Mr. Nez. We have to deal with that in rural communities
throughout the country. Thank you.
Ms. Jackson Lee. Well, let me--thank you, let me thank you,
and I thank your Congressman Stanton for this focus on the
Downwinders. Let me quickly go to Ms. Cordova and Ms. Adams and
anyone else that wants to provide in this period of time that I
have, so if you all will just follow back-to-back.
I happen to be supportive of a review of RECA for the
expanded Downwinders in Arizona and New Mexico. It reaffirms
that there should be compensation, reparations, if you will, to
restore peoples' lives who have been ignored, violated, and
seen death in their life.
So, I would ask your response directly as of what would be
an improvement in RECA. Ms. Cordova, sorry for the loss of your
dad and experience that you have had. All of us know how our
moms and dads are no matter what age we happen to be and so if
you give us what an expansion or improvement would be like in
your mind and the same thing with Ms. Adams, if you would give
a sense of the improvement, and Ms. Bishop.
Ms. Cordova, would you? Thank you.
Ms. Cordova. Thank you. Thank you, Representative Lee. The
improvements that we think need to be made without a doubt for
the New Mexico Downwinders, specifically, is that we have to
have a qualification period that is meaningful.
It has to begin in 1945 and extend through the summer of
1962 because we were downwind of the Trinity site in 1945 and
then we were continuously exposed to radiation from the Nevada
test site through the summer of 1962. That qualification period
has to be substantial and significant, or it will not, it will
not benefit people here.
We have to prove that we lived here during that time frame
and 75 years later it is almost an impossibility. Consideration
must be given to that. For 31 years, we have been left out.
Consideration must be given to that.
The second thing is, we need to increase the one-time
payment. Fifty thousand dollars is woefully inadequate. Doesn't
even cover one year of co-payments, the cost of treatment, gas,
lodging, food, time away from your family, et cetera.
Last, we need to consider adding healthcare coverage. The
healthcare coverage is the most important component to this. If
people are using Medicaid, it makes no sense. We should put
them on a program like the EEOICPA program that was referenced
before and give Downwinders and uranium miners healthcare
coverage just equal. Equal. Thank you.
Mr. Cohen. Thank you, Ms. Cordova. Thank you, Congresswoman
Jackson Lee.
Next, we recognize Congressman Burgess Owens of Utah.
Mr. Owens. Thank you. Can you see me okay? Thank you, Chair
Cohen and Ranking Member Johnson for holding this hearing
today.
I also want to thank President Nez of the Navajo Nation and
other Witnesses for your participation.
Radiation exposure caused by the United States atomic
weapon development programs is a very important issue here in
Utah. There are thousands of so-called Downwinders who lives
are lost or changed forever. Several years ago, J. Willard
Marriott Library at the University of Utah, created a
Downwinders of Utah archive where the histories of hundreds of
Utahns who were affected by our Government's atomic and
radiation testing. Their opinion is one of those Downwinders
who was born in Cedar City, Utah, 1953. The same year the Dirty
Harry bomb was tested at a nearby Nevada test site. Listen to
Sarah's description of growing up in Cedar City.
We knew we could die any day from about 5th grade. Our
parent teacher's daughter Cybil Johnson died of leukemia. A
steady stream of deaths followed. My grandfather, Paul Hoppen
(ph), had been out herding cattle near Enterprise, Utah, when
Dirty Harry went off. He got leukemia and died. My aunt, Mary
Nelson, died of breast cancer. My cousin, Jeff Hoppen (ph), had
a bone marrow transplant from his brother and later died. A
high school classmate died from a brain tumor.
My cousin got breast cancer and two other cousins'
daughters. They have survived so far thanks to better
treatments. My brother got an upper intestinal cancer which
killed him. My mother had continuing health problems, including
downward problems which may have been caused by the fallout.
Countless neighbors and friends have died from cancer, end
quote.
They are responsibility for Sarah and every single
Downwinder victim of radiation exposure and their families to
reauthorize RECA, the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act.
I hope we can work together in a bipartisan, fair,
responsible matter to right the wrongs that destroyed so many
lives and families in Utah and the western States. These
problems caused by the Federal Government and one that we must
work to solve. We cannot walk away from RECA.
I have a question for President Nez. Other than the Navajo
Nation is located in southern Utah, each of the outstanding and
possibly still unresolved cases of radiation exposure of the
Navajo people in the Utah, specifically [inaudible]?
Mr. Nez. I am sorry, Representative Owens, Chair, I didn't
catch that last part of your question. My apologies.
Mr. Owens. Oh, no problem. Part of the Navajo Nation is
located in southern Utah?
Mr. Nez. Yes.
Mr. Owens. Can you speak to outstanding causes of radiation
exposure to Navajo people, Utah specifically?
Mr. Nez. Right. We have many uranium mines there in the
southern part of Utah within the Navajo Nation that have been
cleaned, cleaned up. Just for one uranium mine to be cleaned
up, it is into the tens of millions of dollars.
If there are 500 plus uranium mines, do the math. We are
talking about into the billions. So, a lot of the folks worked
in these mines in that area. You got Mexican Hat there,
Halchita, who has a uranium storage site. You got one uranium
mine in Gouldings in Monument Valley that just got cleaned up.
So, the question about the contributions that Native
Americans/Navajos have had to this country in World War II, I
really, Representative Owens, I have to remind our folks that
the Navajo Nation in two ways contributed to helping win the
war.
One is the uranium that was extracted from our lands and
today we are still getting that cleaned up. The compensation
needing to happen to those folks living near and around those
sites.
The other is our language. We all know about the Navajo
cotalkers. Native Americans, high percentage of any group to
serve in the military. So, what we are seeing today, too, as
well is to remind our lawmakers, our friends in Washington, DC,
about that treaty relationship and that trust obligation.
Thank you, Representative Owens and Chair.
Mr. Owens. Thank you.
Ms. Cordova, if Congress extends RECA by 20 years, do you
anticipate that would be sufficient time to identify and
compensate the remaining victims?
Ms. Cordova. Thank you very much for the question,
Representative Burgess. Yes, I absolutely do think that that
would be an adequate time. We have already been serving our
people. We are already documenting who they are and where they
are, and we have worked extensively in communities, we have
received grant money that we utilized towards identifying
Downwinders in our communities and we will work very hard to
make sure that 20 years is adequate time.
I want to say to you that our hearts go out to the people
of Utah who were actually targeted as part of the testing. The
winds blew in that direction and took that fallout to Utah.
Thank you, sir, for your interest in this issue.
Mr. Owens. Thank you. Chair, I am having trouble seeing the
clock. How much time do I have? Do I have time for one more
question?
Mr. Cohen. Well, we are in overtime, but I will give you
overtime.
Mr. Owens. Okay. I relate to that one. Thank you so much.
This is for Mr. Szymendera. If Congress fails to
reauthorize RECA, are there victims of the radiation exposure
who will not be compensated?
Mr. Szymendera. Most likely, yes. The deadline will be in
2022 and that will be it. Anyone who does not have their
application in by that date will have no recourse for
compensation.
Mr. Owens. Thank you.
I yield back my time. Thank you so much.
Mr. Cohen. Thank you, Representative Owens. Thank you to
all our Witnesses. We have had a great panel and we have
learned a lot about this issue and the importance it is to the
people who served America and America has not been serving.
Senator Lujan and then earlier Senator Crapo and Senator Hatch
and Congressman Stanton have all been stalwart leaders, and I
thank them for their efforts here.
I want to thank all our Witnesses appearing today.
Without objection, all Members will have 5 legislative days
to submit additional written questions for the Witnesses or
additional materials for the records.
With that, the hearing is hereby closed. Adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 3:37 p.m., the Subcommittee was adjourned.]
APPENDIX
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QUESTIONS AND RESPONSES FOR THE RECORD
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