Early yesterday morning (August 21, 2024) a crowd clad in yellow gathered outside the gates of the Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum in Las Cruces–signs in hand read: “SPEAKER JOHNSON PASS RECA NOW”.
A Las Cruces Digest Report (Photo by Sarah Quiara: Courtesy)
By early afternoon, the crowds had shifted to Plaza Amistad on S. Solano Dr. in Las Cruces. Inside one of the strip mall units, U.S. Congressional Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana), rallied supporters for the New Mexico 2nd Congressional District Republican candidate. Johnson came bearing the gift of keys to the 38th “battlestation” opened nationwide. Speaker Johnson detailed how he had been to 178 cities in 38 states, and described the Las Cruces “battlestation” as a war room to be staffed with Republican specialists from D.C. intent on winning the “swing district” that is New Mexico’s 2nd Congressional District.
Speaker Johnson made remarks during the battlestation christening lasting six-and-a-half minutes. He praised the Republican candidate and hit his political marks. He then addressed a couple of questions–one about the border and one about “illegals tipping the scales” in the election. He also remarked about the heat inside the newly anointed battlestation.
It was much hotter outside where protesters dressed in yellow held signs to bring awareness to the recent expiration of RECA, and the RECA Extension Act of 2024 passed by the U. S. Senate that sits, languishing in the House of Representatives under Speaker Johnson’s control.
What is RECA?
In short, RECA stands for “Radiation Exposure Compensation Act“, and is more broadly understood to be “The Radiation Exposure Compensation Program“. The general purpose of the program was to eliminate the need for citizens adversely affected by the United States’ nuclear program to receive compensation without having to go through lengthy and cotsly litigation. “The U.S. Attorney General established the Radiation Exposure Compensation Program within the Constitutional and Specialized Tort Litigation Section in April 1992. The Department of Justice promulgated regulations designed to use existing records so that claims can be resolved in a reliable, objective, and non-adversarial manner, quickly and with little administrative cost to the person filing the claim or the United States.”
A History of RECA, according the Department of Justice:
The United States conducted nearly 200 atmospheric nuclear weapons development tests from 1945 to 1962. Essential to the nation’s nuclear weapons development was uranium mining and processing, which was carried out by tens of thousands of workers.
Following the conclusion of these activities, lawsuits against the United States alleged failure to warn of exposures to known radiation hazards. These suits were dismissed by the appellate courts. Congress responded by devising a program allowing partial restitution to individuals who developed serious illnesses after presumed exposure to radiation released during the atmospheric nuclear tests or after employment in the uranium industry. The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act was passed on October 5, 1990. The Act’s scope of coverage was broadened on July 10, 2000.
This unique statute was designed to serve as an expeditious, low-cost alternative to litigation. Significantly, RECA does not require claimants to establish causation. Rather, claimants qualify for compensation by establishing the diagnosis of a listed compensable disease after working or residing in a designated location for a specific period of time.
RECA Covered Areas
RECA establishes lump sum compensation awards for individuals who contracted specified diseases in three defined populations:
- Uranium Miners, Millers, and Ore Transporters may be eligible for one-time, lump sum compensation of $100,000.
- “Onsite Participants” at atmospheric nuclear weapons tests may be eligible for one-time, lump sum compensation of up to $75,000.
- Individuals who lived downwind of the Nevada Test Site (“Downwinders”) may be eligible for one-time, lump sum compensation of $50,000.
The Act defines specific eligibility criteria within these three broad areas of application:
Uranium Worker States: The Act covers certain uranium industry employment in the states of Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Wyoming, South Dakota, Washington, Utah, Idaho, North Dakota, Oregon, and Texas.
The dates of coverage are from January 1, 1942, through December 31, 1971. The Act requires the employee to have worked in a covered uranium mine for at least one year, or have been exposed to 40 or more working level months of radiation while employed in a uranium mine, during this covered period. Alternatively, an employee may have worked in a covered uranium mill, or in the transport of uranium or vanadium-uranium ore from a mine or mill, for at least one year during the covered period. To be eligible for compensation, a claimant must establish both uranium industry employment that meets these statutory requirements and a subsequent diagnosis of a specified compensable disease.
Onsite Participants: The Act covers the participation onsite in a test involving the atmospheric detonation of a nuclear device. “Onsite” means duty above or within the Pacific Test Sites, the Nevada Test Site, the South Atlantic Test Site, the Trinity Test Site, any designated location within a naval shipyard, air force base, or other official government installation where ships, aircraft or other equipment used in an atmospheric nuclear detonation were decontaminated; or any designated location used for the purpose of monitoring fallout from an atmospheric nuclear test conducted at the Nevada Test Site. “Atmospheric detonations of nuclear devices” means only those tests conducted by the United States prior to January 1, 1963, and does not include the wartime detonations at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. A claimant must establish both participation onsite in a test involving the atmospheric detonation of a nuclear device and a subsequent diagnosis of a specified compensable disease.
Downwinder Areas: The Act covers physical presence in certain counties located downwind from the Nevada Test Site in the states of Utah, Nevada, and Arizona. In the State of Utah, the covered counties include Beaver, Garfield, Iron, Kane, Millard, Piute, San Juan, Sevier, Washington, and Wayne. In the State of Nevada, the counties include Eureka, Lander, Lincoln, Nye, White Pine, and that portion of Clark County that consists of townships 13 through 16 at ranges 63 through 71. In the State of Arizona, the counties include Apache, Coconino, Gila, Navajo, Yavapai, and that part of Arizona that is north of the Grand Canyon.
A claimant must establish physical presence in the Downwinder area for at least two years during the period beginning on January 21, 1951, and ending on October 31, 1958, or for the entire period beginning on June 30, 1962, and ending on July 31, 1962. An eligible claimant must also establish a subsequent diagnosis of a specified compensable disease.
On June 10, 2024, the latest extension of the RECA program expired, leaving many without the means to treat illnesses agreed to be caused by our nation’s nuclear program. An extension has passed the U. S. Senate, but no vote has been scheduled in the House of Representatives.
