SENATE JOINT MEMORIAL 9

49th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2009

INTRODUCED BY

David Ulibarri

FOR THE INDIAN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE AND

THE LEGISLATIVE HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE

                     A JOINT MEMORIAL

ENCOURAGING THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS TO ENACT AMENDMENTS TO THE FEDERAL RADIATION EXPOSURE COMPENSATION ACT TO EXTEND ELIGIBILITY TO INDIVIDUALS WHO WORKED IN THE URANIUM INDUSTRY AFTER JANUARY 1, 1972 AND TO DIRECT FEDERAL AGENCIES TO COMPILE AND REPORT URANIUM WORKER HEALTH AND SAFETY DATA, TO CONDUCT HEALTH STUDIES AMONG POST-1971 URANIUM WORKERS AND TO IMPLEMENT AND ENFORCE EXISTING URANIUM WORKER HEALTH AND SAFETY STANDARDS.

     WHEREAS, the United States congress enacted the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act in 1990 to provide "compassionate payments" to uranium miners who suffered from radiation-related diseases presumed to have been caused by their work in uranium mines and mills that provided uranium ore to the United States government for military purposes; and

     WHEREAS, the United States congress amended the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act in 2000 to include people who worked in open-pit uranium mines and uranium mills or who hauled uranium ore, to expand the list of compensable diseases and to lower the minimum lifetime radiation dose and the minimum amount of time of employment in the uranium industry in order to extend eligibility to individuals who became sick or who died as a result of their uranium work but who were not eligible participants in the original Radiation Exposure Compensation Act; and

     WHEREAS, the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act as presently amended covers only those persons who worked in the uranium industry between January 1, 1942 and December 31, 1971; and

     WHEREAS, an informal survey conducted by the post '71 uranium workers committee of Milan, New Mexico, of more than one thousand two hundred men and women who worked in the uranium industry since January 1, 1972 shows that more than half of the respondents to the survey reported at least one adverse health condition, including but not limited to lung cancer and kidney disease, conditions that are currently compensable pursuant to the federal Radiation Exposure Compensation Act; and

     WHEREAS, respondents to the post '71 survey self-reported frequencies of birth defects among offspring of former workers that appear to be greater than the overall New Mexico birth defect rate for the period of 1995 to 1999; and

     WHEREAS, more than ninety percent of respondents to the post '71 survey reported that their employers did not inform them about the health risks of exposure to radiation nor advise them of the dangers to their family members of laundering their uranium-contaminated work clothes at home; and 

     WHEREAS, the energy, minerals and natural resources department estimates that about seven thousand people were employed in the uranium industry in New Mexico in 1978, the record year for uranium production in the state; and

     WHEREAS, the United States department of energy reports that nearly twelve thousand persons were employed in the uranium mining and milling industry in the United States in 1980; and

     WHEREAS, the national institute for occupational safety and health reports that no comprehensive health study has ever been conducted among post-1971 uranium workers; and

     WHEREAS, a 1980 national institute for occupational safety and health report found that average uranium miner exposure in underground mines in the 1970s was "significantly greater" than indicated in company records and, on average, exceeded applicable in-mine exposure limits;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the United States congress be encouraged to enact legislation or provide budget directives authorizing the national institute for occupational safety and health to conduct formal health studies among persons who worked in the domestic uranium industry since January 1, 1972; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the United States congress be encouraged to expand eligibility for compensation pursuant to the federal Radiation Exposure Compensation Act for persons who worked in the uranium mining, milling and ore hauling industries after January 1, 1972, in order that they might receive the same compensation benefits as now enjoyed by pre-1972 uranium workers; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the New Mexico congressional delegation, to the county commissioners of Bernalillo, Cibola, McKinley, Rio Arriba, San Juan and Valencia counties, to the president of the Navajo Nation, to the speaker of the Navajo Nation council and to the governors of the Pueblos of Acoma, Laguna and Zuni.

- 4 -