Thread by @SenatorLujan

Tomorrow, millions of people will flock to see Christopher Nolan’s #Oppenheimer.

It’s critical to note 78 years after the nuclear tests this movie centers on, New Mexico continues to face collateral damage from the Trinity Test site. (1/7)

New Mexico was chosen for its uninhabited space, however, nearly half a million people were horribly affected. Generations of New Mexicans later, thousands of victims and their family members continue to face serious, sometimes deadly health complications. (2/7)

Stories like Tularosa resident Tina Cordova, founder of Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium, depicts the harsh reality and generational trauma stemming from our nation’s nuclear tests and the real dangers of radiation. (3/7)

In 1990, the passage of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) provided an array of compensation to workers & Downwinders (those who live around test sites). Despite RECA’s significance, NM Downwinders & uranium workers have been unjustly excluded from compensation. (4/7)

For over 10 years, I've reintroduced legislation to strengthen and expand RECA to fill the coverage gap. Other members of Congress have been reluctant, claiming it's too expensive. I tell them to face NMs who've died of cancer at the expense of the federal government. (5/7)

It’s the sad truth that too many have died from the radioactive fallout from these decades-old tests.

And I’ll be very candid, I’m worried folks aren’t really focused on the negative consequences of the Oppenheimer nuclear tests. (6/7)

But now the federal government has the opportunity to do right by the primarily Hispanic and Indigenous New Mexican communities and pass the expansion and extension of RECA. There can be no time wasted. (7/7)
apnews.com/article/oppenh…