Urgent call to action

The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA), a sorely inadequate but important effort to address generations of health damage caused by nuclear weapons production in the United States, is set to expire very soon, in July of 2022. 

A dedicated group of impacted community members, organizations, and elected officials been pushing for years to renew and expand this program. The new legislation they have put forward would add downwinders in all of Utah, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Montana, Idaho, Colorado and Guam, downwinders of the Trinity Test Site, and uranium miners and mill workers in the industry after 1971. It also would increase the amount of compensation from $50,000 to $150,000 for all claimants. These changes are decades overdue. 

On December 7 the bill to renew and expand RECA passed the House Judiciary Committee: now it goes to the House for a vote. Impacted communities are concerned there is not adequate support for the bill to pass the Senate.

Your voice is needed to help it move through both the House and the Senate! Let your elected officials know the entire country is watching to see if they will join this bipartisan effort to care for the thousands of US residents harmed by decades of nuclear weapons testing and uranium mining. Four potential action items are listed below, and sample text is included at the bottom of this post. Please select the items that make the most sense for you, and share these items with your network! 

Action item 1: Please contact your elected officials and urge them to support HR 5338 and SB 2798. Feel free to use text from the sample statement at the bottom of this message. Find their contact information here: https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials

Action item 2: More senators are needed to co-sponsor S 2798. So far, only Senator Cory Booker has signed on as a cosponsor with sponsors Senators Mike Crapo and Ben Ray Luján. Urge your senators to co-sponsor this important bill! 

Action item 3: Is your senator on the Senate Judiciary Committee? Find out here: https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/about/members. Their support will be crucial to getting the bill to a senate vote.  Urge them to support S 2798. 

Action item 4: The following senators are viewed as important potential supporters of this bill. Ask them to support S2798. 

·      Senator Mitt Romney of Utah https://www.romney.senate.gov/contact  (202) 224-5251]

·      Senator Steve Daines of Montana https://www.daines.senate.gov/connect/email-steve (202) 224-2651]

·      Senator John Cornyn of Texas https://www.cornyn.senate.gov/contact 202-224-2934

·      Senator John Hickenlooper of Colorado https://www.hickenlooper.senate.gov/contact/contact-form/ 202-224-5941

Every voice counts. Please take the time to contact your elected officials on behalf of all the radiation-impacted people who have been harmed by U.S. nuclear weapons production. 

Sincerely,

Sarah Fox

Historian, Author, Downwind: A People's History of the Nuclear West 

(University of Nebraska Press, 2014, 2018)

SAMPLE STATEMENT: please edit as needed!

Representative/ Senator ______:

I am writing to implore you to support HR 5338/SB 2798, a necessary renewal and expansion of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act. Manhattan Project officials and their successors in the federal Atomic Energy Commission knew full well that nuclear weapons development and testing and the uranium industry it generated were extremely dangerous, and still they did not warn the thousands of civilians, workers, and soldiers who were in harm’s way. Some communities were exposed to dangerous, mutagenic radiation for decades. Some are still at risk of exposure. This an unconscionable case of “collateral damage.” RECA as it exists now is sorely inadequate: if it is allowed to expire in 2022, an already horrible injustice will be made much more shameful. Renew, expand, and protect RECA. This history will not go away just because we turn our backs on it: our federal government needs to acknowledge and stand by the people it harmed. 

The entire country is watching to see if you will join this bipartisan effort to care for the thousands of US residents harmed by decades of nuclear weapons testing and uranium mining. Please do the right thing.

Sincerely,

Downwind author Sarah Fox to speak at 2018 Remembering Downwinders Events in Salt Lake

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 7, 2018

Author Sarah Fox to speak at 7th Annual Remembering Downwinders Day events

in commemoration of the 67th anniversary of the inception of nuclear testing in Nevada

Salt Lake City, UT, January 7, 2018– Seattle author, historian, and professor of environmental studies Sarah Fox will speak at the Downwinders Remembrance Day event at 6:30 pm on January 20 as a guest of UCAN (Utah Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons), and UNAU (United Nations Association of Utah).  

The Remembering Downwinders Day event will be hosted by Congregation Kol Ami at 2425 East Heritage Way, approximately 2760 South. Fox, author of Downwind: A People’s History of the Nuclear West (University of Nebraska Press, 2014, www.downwindhistory.com), will address the history and health and environmental impacts of nuclear testing in Nevada. Songwriter Kate MacLeod will also be featured in this program, along with candle lighting and sharing of stories.

January of 2018 marks the 67th anniversary of the first nuclear test conducted in Nevada; over 900 additional nuclear explosions followed by 1992.  For the first 11 years, the tests took place in the open air; Atomic Energy Commission policy dictated that tests go forward only when the wind blew east, away from Las Vegas and California and out across Utah, Nevada, Idaho, Arizona, Montana, and states beyond. Massive amounts of toxic radiological pollution entered into the environment, contaminating the air, food, and water that local citizens relied on, and creating a legacy of health problems that ripples forward to the present day. The tests weren’t the only source of radioactive pollution in the West; the uranium industry that sprang up to fuel the bombs contaminated thousands of sites, communities, waterways, and families.  Many of these uranium-affected regions also bore the brunt of contamination from nuclear tests in Nevada. Remembering the downwinders requires that we do more than mark the past: we must reckon with the persistent and dangerous ways this history of contamination impacts us today and looms over our childrens’ futures.

The Utah Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons is a collection of concerned citizens who join a growing and diverse group of leaders and fellow citizens from across the political spectrum who believe that now is the time for the United States to lead the world in nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament. United Nations Association of Utah seeks to heighten public awareness and increase knowledge of global issues and build support for constructive national policies on global concerns.

Fox will speak at the following public events (all are free and open to the public):

Saturday, Jan. 20, 6:30 pm, “Remembering Downwinders” at Congregation Kol Ami, 2425 E. Heritage Way, approximately 2720 South (just south of I-80).   Kate MacLeod will also be featured in this program, along with candle lighting and sharing of stories.

Sunday, January 21, 1:30, “Bearing Witness: Retelling the Past in Pursuit of Social Justice” talk, potluck lunch at 1, St. Marks, Deans Hall, 231 East 100 South.  

Monday, January 22, “Stories from Downwind: Investigating the Nuclear West” talk at 11:00 am at Utah Valley University, Classroom Building room 317.

Monday, January 22, Tea with the Author, Jane’s House, 3:00-5:00 pm. A chance to ask in-depth questions and share stories at length. 444 E 200 S.

Tuesday, January 23, 12:30 pm, “From Personal Narrative to Policy: Downwind Stories Shifting the Status Quo” Pizza and Politics with the Hinckley Institute of Politics, 332 S. 1400 East, Building 72, room 102 (The Old Law College Moot Courtroom).

Tuesday, January 23, 7 pm, “Raising our Voices Downwind: Citizen Narratives as a Force for Nuclear Policy Change.” United Nations Association of Utah, talk at Millcreek Community Center and Library, 2266 E. Evergreen Ave.

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If you would like more information about any of these events please contact Deb Sawyer of UCAN at dsawyer@xmission.com or Sarah Fox at 206 930 3921, email at downwindhistory@gmail.com.