Latest news with #TinaCordova
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
New memorial commemorates Trinity Test Downwinders
NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – On this day, 80 years ago, the United States Military tested the first atomic bomb at the Trinity Site here in New Mexico. An event that would forever change the nature of warfare. New Mexico downwinders now eligible for compensation from RECA The day is commemorated every year at the Trinity Site. But this year, the New Mexicans who suffered the brunt of that first nuclear test, celebrated a milestone of their own. 'It must have been right here someplace,' said Mela Armijo as she searched for the home she grew up in, not far from the world's first atomic explosion on New Mexico's White Sands Missile Range. 'We were the closest ones of anybody,' said Armijo. Armijo sharing just how much the explosion cost her family, 'My whole family is gone with cancer.' But today, finally after decades of fighting for recognition, cries of celebration among generations of New Mexicans who say they've suffered because they lived downwind. 'But today we come together in joy, in gladness, to reflect upon all that we've lost.' said Tina Cordova, Co-founder of the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium. Cordova led other victims in unveiling a new sign near the Trinity Site entrance. 'We remember the mothers and fathers who passed too soon. The children who never grew up,' said Representative Joanne Ferrary, (D) Las Cruces. For decades, New Mexicans have been fighting to be added to the RECA list or Radiation Exposure Compensation Act. The state was finally added in the so called 'Big Beautiful Bill'. The provision covers leukemia claims related to the Trinity Test in New Mexico. Uranium miners who worked from 1942 to 1990 are also covered. If a family member has already passed, the family can apply on their behalf. It also increases the compensation amount up to $100,000. 'We've had sop many disappointments, but it was all worth it,' said Louise Lopez, Downwwinder. 'And through her efforts we've accomplished so much and we have more to work on,' said Bernice Gutierrez, Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium. A map is located on one sie of the sign, to give a glimpse into how many people were living near the Trinity Site in 1945. The maps' creator, Bryan Kendall, was a student at the University of New Mexico four years ago when it was created. 'I saw person after person come up to the map and point, saying 'Hey I'm from here',' said Kendall. All families bonded by a chapter of our state's history. 'All of our families have suffered these harrowing cancers. They are real, they are painful, no one wants this,' said one downwinder. White Sands Missile Range said today's 80th anniversary of the Trinity Site Test marks a new era in scientific acheivment. The 51,500 acre Trinity Site area was declared a national historic landmark in 1975. In a statement, the missile range said this test not only led to the end of the war in the Pacific but also ushered the world into the atomic age. The Trinity Site used to be open to the public twice a year. One day in April and one day in October. It is now only open once a year on the third Saturday in October. The movie, 'Oppenheimer' has also been drawing in bigger crowds. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
08-07-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
New Mexico downwinders now eligible for compensation from RECA
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – For decades, downwinders in New Mexico have fought to get compensation from the federal government for health impacts from nuclear test sites and other facilities. Now, a law that's been on the books for years lists New Mexico as one of the new states eligible for compensation. 'We know that this is a crack in the dam,' said Tina Cordova, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium. It's been a long-awaited move; the federal government is extending a hand of assistance to downwinders of nuclear sites in New Mexico. 'This is the 80th year since the bomb was detonated at Trinity, so the people of New Mexico have essentially been waiting 80 years for this acknowledgment and this assistance,' Cordova said. New Mexico Democrats call on Congress to reinstate Radiation Exposure Compensation Act Though people are excited about the win, some are torn on how it came about. Inside President Trump's 'Big, Beautiful Bill' is a provision that expands who is eligible for the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, or RECA for short, and extends it until the end of 2028. 'We have a lot of work to do,' Cordova explained. 'We know the time frame they've gave us is limited, and we know our fight in Congress is not over.' It's the largest expansion of the act to date and is the first time New Mexico has ever made the list. It also increases the compensation amount up to $100,000. The provision covers leukemia claims related to the Trinity test in New Mexico. Uranium miners who worked from 1942 and 1990 are also covered. If a family member has already passed, the family can apply on their behalf. Indigenous group heads to DC to fight for radiation compensation 'There is no amount of money that will ever, ever make up for our losses,' Cordova said. Though the win is a rallying cry for advocates, downwinders are concerned about the Medicare and Medicaid cuts from the 'Big, Beautiful Bill.' Health surveys conducted among people affected near nuclear test sites show that a good portion are on one of the two health care plans, but could now lose them. 'We'll take the win,' Cordova added. 'We will not stop working on this, though. There's more to come.' The expansion also included Utah, Idaho, and northern Arizona. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
New Mexico Democrats call on Congress to reinstate Radiation Exposure Compensation Act
NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – It's been one year since Americans were last compensated for radiation exposure, as New Mexico advocates continue to urge Congress to bring it back. The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act expired last year, and now, state Democrats say it not only needs to be reinstated but strengthened. Which New Mexico bills are going into law July 1? Despite the Senate passing the bill twice, the House has yet to pass it, with Democrats calling on Speaker Mike Johnson to put it to a vote. 'This is not a partisan issue. And as a matter of fact, just based on the demographics of the states we are trying to add to RECA, the zipcodes we are trying to add to RECA, more Republicans have been affected than Democrats,' said Tina Cordova, Co-Founder, Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium. New Mexico Democrats said they want the bill amended to include all people impacted by radiation from government-funded projects. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
10-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
New Mexico delegation, radiation victims renew call for compensation
Tina Cordova, a founder of the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium, protests at the Trinity site on Oct. 21, 2023. (Danielle Prokop) In the one year since the federal Radiation Exposure Compensation Act expired, New Mexico survivors of federal nuclear testing programs said they have continued to watch family members and friends die. The RECA legislation, passed in 1990, compensated people who developed cancers or other illnesses as a result of radiation exposure from the United States' atomic programs. New Mexico's Trinity test downwinders and uranium miners who worked in the industry after RECA's coverage period (post-1971) have been notably excluded. New Mexico's congressional delegation have made numerous attempts to expand and extend the bill, with the U.S. Senate passing the bill to do so twice last year. But the bill never made it to the U.S. House floor for a vote, and expired on June 10, 2024. Time's run out for the Radiation Exposure and Compensation Act Tina Cordova, co-founder of the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium, which includes victims and descendants downwind from the 1945 Trinity Test, told attendees during a Tuesday news conference marking the RECA-expiration anniversary, two of her cousins have died in the last year, one 'after battling brain cancer for many, many years.' Her youngest brother, Cordova noted, also had also been diagnosed with kidney cancer and is fighting the disease alongside his daughter, who also has cancer. 'My family has five generations of cancer now,' said Cordova, herself a cancer survivor, whose battle for justice serves as the centerpiece for Lois Lipman's award-winning documentary First We Bombed New Mexico. 'My family is not unique. We've documented thousands of families like mine exhibiting four and five generations of cancer. That's the face of the legacy that we've been left to deal with.' Loretta Anderson (Pueblo of Laguna), a patient advocate and co- founder of the Southwest Uranium Miners Coalition Post-71, said she works with 1,000 uranium miners and their families and, in the year since RECA expired, counts 10 who have died. 'They died with no compensation, no apology from the government, and many of them were part of our coalition,' Anderson said. 'We mourn, we hurt, we cry, we suffer. Many of our people are sick. Our young are now being diagnosed with cancer and other horrific diseases. We're losing our young. We're losing our future.' We're losing our young. We're losing our future. – Loretta Anderson, Pueblo of Laguna and Southwest Uranium Miners Coalition Post-71 Congress 'is responsible for those deaths,' Democratic U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández, who represents the state's 3rd Congressional District, said during the call, in which she exhorted her Republican colleagues in the U.S. House 'to stand up for their constituents. 'Congress has failed its moral obligation…Speaker [Mike] Johnson needs to let us vote.' Nuclear survivors have lobbied for decades for inclusion in RECA. The current push comes amid the Trump administration's push for renewed uranium mining in New Mexico and elsewhere, which both Cordova and Anderson oppose. 'Our government has not cleaned up the mess they made in the beginning,' Cordova said. 'They have not done anything to address the first round of uranium mining. And as it relates to downwinders, this is the 80th anniversary since Trinity. We have no faith in the government coming back to take care of the mess they made, and they want us to support new mining? Personally, we cannot do that.' Long-stalled NM uranium mines now 'priority projects' at Cibola Forest, leader tells employees Anderson noted that she lives 11 miles from the former Jackpile-Paguate uranium mine, now a Superfund site. 'And so, we're going to fight,' any new mines, she said. 'We need to compensate, take care of the lands that they destroyed…before any mining is done, because people are sick, people are suffering… I know many of our people here on the reservations and surrounding communities do not support uranium mining here ever again.' U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) noted that the Trump administration's push for more uranium mining should serve as yet another reason to support RECA. 'The fundamental issue here is like,' let's own up to what we did as a as a government,'' Heinrich said. 'That's just the right and moral thing to do…you can't expect communities to embrace new mining if you haven't fixed the problems that you created 50, 60 years ago.' As for reintroducing RECA and pushing it through Congress, Leger Fernández said she has spoken directly with Johnson, whose concerns, she said, had more to do with the cost than the concept of compensation. Cordova noted that if survivors could sue the federal government in civil court, they'd likely receive millions in dollars in settlements — far more than is expected in the event that RECA passes. That being said, 'there is no amount of money that anyone could ever pay me for the pain and suffering that my family has seen…and there is absolutely no way that the government could ever make my family whole again,' she said. U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), who has sponsored RECA legislation every year since he entered Congress in 2008, and most recently co-sponsored the RECA expansion bill with GOP Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri. Luján noted the irony of Republicans worrying about the cost of RECA, given that Republicans in the U.S. House are 'about to pass a bill for a third time that's going to add over $2 trillion to the debt.' Nonetheless, Luján noted, ultimately RECA is a 'bipartisan issue and it has a bipartisan solution — I would argue bipartisan solutions. Alongside our congressional delegation, I commit to continue to work with our bipartisan coalition to keep RECA moving forward.' And to the victims 'still living and suffering…I'll never stop fighting for your stories to be heard and for justice to be delivered.'
