New Mexico Legislature supports uranium measures 

By Kathy Helms, Gallup Independent

Feb 28, 2017 

SANTA FE — The Legislature is finally on board with supporting post-1971 uranium workers and downwinders in the home state of the atomic bomb as well as expanding amendments to the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act to make them eligible to receive benefits.

A memorial designating Uranium Workers Day, co-sponsored by Reps. D. Wonda Johnson, D-Churchrock, and Eliseo Lee Alcon, D-Milan, passed the House Monday on a unanimous vote. 

Miners memorial 

“What a day,” Linda Evers, co-chair-woman of the Post-’71 Uranium Workers Committee, said at a news conference in the Roundhouse Rotunda where she thanked the many former uranium workers and supporters who made the trip to Santa Fe.

Although the memorials carry no weight of law, it was the first part of a two-piece puzzle that Washington needed to advance the congressional bill introduced in January by U.S. Sens. Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich, Evers said.

“We needed support from our state legislators,” she said. “We have that today. We also needed a comprehensive health study run by an accredited doctor. We have that today, too.”

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Photo courtesy of Anna Hanson