I just ran across a blog called MULTICULTURAL ALLIANCE FOR A SAFE ENVIRONMENT. http://masecoalition.org/
Here are the most recent blog entries. Check it out! Post-71 Uranium Workers Committee Gets RECA Amendments to Congress Calendar April 13, 2011 | Posted by admin Tom Udall Leads Bipartisan Group in Introducing RECA Amendments Act of 2011 Bill Would Expand Relief for Americans Sickened by Radiation Exposure WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Tom Udall (D-NM) today led a bipartisan group of senators in introducing the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) Amendments of 2011, which would provide expanded restitution for Americans sickened from working in uranium mines or living downwind of atomic weapons tests. Senator Udall was joined in introducing the legislation by Sens. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), Mike Crapo (R-ID), Mark Udall (D-CO), James Risch (R-ID), and Michael Bennet (D-CO). Companion legislation was concurrently introduced in the House by Rep. Ben Ray Luján (D-NM-3). Among other things, the RECA Amendments of 2011 would build upon previous RECA legislation by further widening qualifications for compensation for radiation exposure; qualifying post 1971 uranium workers for compensation; equalizing compensation for all claimants to $150,000; expanding the downwind exposure area to include seven states; and funding an epidemiological study of the health impacts on families of uranium workers and residents of uranium development communities. “As the U.S. government built up its Cold War nuclear arsenal during the mid-20th century, many Americans paid the price with their health – and all the while, the government was slow to implement federal protections,” Tom Udall said. “With this legislation, we honor a generation of hardworking Americans who sacrificed their lives and health by working or living near the uranium mines. We are taking the next step to close this sad chapter in our history by expanding RECA to include all who are justified in receiving radiation exposure compensation.” “This legislation represents a continued commitment to compensating Americans whose health was negatively affected by the Cold War. I am particularly glad that the bill includes – for the first time – the downwinders from the Trinity site who have never been compensated,” said Bingaman, who worked on the original RECA law, as well as the 2000 law that made several improvements to the program. “I recognize the burden placed upon cancer patients and their families to pay for the expensive regimen of treatments this disease requires. Passage of this legislation is the first step in helping Idahoans get the care they need,” said Crapo. “The patriots who worked on nuclear sites and in uranium mines during the Cold War were crucial to maintaining our national security,” Mark Udall said. “It’s our responsibility now to make sure we help properly take care of those who are dealing with illnesses they contracted because of radiation exposure. This bill will expand RECA so that a wider pool of workers affected and communities downwind will be able to access the compensation they deserve.” “For decades now, Idahoans have been pleading their case to the federal government for help in dealing with the health effects they suffered as a result of nuclear testing. This bill answers those pleas by providing the same assistance those in neighboring states already receive,” said Risch. “During the Cold War, thousands of Coloradans served our country by working to build the nation’s nuclear arsenal and now we know that through no fault of their own, they were not properly protected from harmful radiation exposure,” Bennet said. “I will continue to work with this bipartisan group of likeminded Senators who are fighting to properly compensate those workers, their families and others who have suffered over many years. Addressing this wrong is the only right and just thing to do.” “Communities throughout New Mexico are still reeling from the legacy of uranium mining, as it continues to impact families to this day. It is critical that we continue to fight for those who have been affected so they can be compensated for the suffering they have endured. This legislation recognizes the sacrifices of the workers and miners whose efforts contributed to our victory during the Cold War, and the downwinders who have been forgotten for too long. These patriotic Americans have waited long enough for the compensation they deserve,” said Luján. Specifically, the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act Amendments of 2011 would: * Extend compensation to employees of mines and mills employed after Dec. 31, 1971. These are individuals who began working in uranium mines and mills after the U.S. stopped purchasing uranium, but failed to implement and enforce adequate uranium mining safety standards. Many of these workers have the same illnesses as pre-1971 workers who currently qualify for RECA compensation. * Add core drillers to the list of compensable employees, which currently only includes miners, millers and ore transporters. * Add renal cancer, or any other chronic renal disease, to the list of compensable diseases for employees of mines and mills. Currently, millers and transporters are covered for kidney disease, but miners are not.Allow claimants to combine work histories to meet the requirement of the legislation. For example, individuals who worked half a year in a mill and half a year in a mine would be eligible for compensation. Currently, the Department of Justice makes some exceptions for this, but the policy is not codified in law. * Make all claimants available for an equal amount of compensation, specifically $150,000, regardless of whether they are millers, miners, ore transporters, onsite employees, or downwinders. * Make all claimants eligible for medical benefits. Currently, only miners, millers and ore transporters can claim medical benefits through the medical expense compensation program. * Recognize radiation exposure from the Trinity Test Site in New Mexico, as well as tests in the Pacific Ocean. * Expand the downwind areas to include all of Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, and Utah for the Nevada Test Site; New Mexico for the Trinity Test Site; and Guam for the Pacific tests. * Allow the use of affidavits to substantiate employment history, presence in affected area, and work at a test site. Current legislation only allows miners to use affidavits.Return all attorney fees to a cap of 10 percent of the amount of the RECA claim, as was mandated in the original 1990 RECA legislation. * Authorize $3 million for five years for epidemiological research on the impacts of uranium development on communities and families of uranium workers. The funds would be allocated to the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences to award grants to universities and non-profits to carry out the research. * Allow in the miners, millers, core drillers, and ore transporters to file a Special Exposure Cohort petition within the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act (EEOICPA). Other DOE workers are currently allowed to file such petitions for compensation when claims are denied and there is not enough information for NIOSH to do dose reconstruction to determine the impacts of exposure. Tom Udall first introduced legislation to update the RECA law as a member of the House of Representatives. His efforts built upon those of his late father, former Interior Secretary Stewart Udall, who began working on the original RECA bill more than three decades ago. After being elected to the Senate in 2008, Udall reintroduced the bill with the same bipartisan group of senators. Workshop: Invisible Fire: Mapping our Atomic Legacy Calendar April 13, 2011 | Posted by admin Eve Andree Laramee As part of their ongoing season “Half Life: Patterns of Change,” the Santa Fe Art Institute presents interdisciplinary artist and educator, Eve Andree Laramee to lecture at Tipton Hall on Friday, April 29 at 6pm. Eve will also hold a workshop Saturday and Sunday April 30th & May 1st. Eve Andree Laramee is an interdisciplinary artist and researcher, and activist working at the confluence of art and science, specializing in the environmental and health impacts of Cold War atomic legacy sites. At her lecture, Eve will be speaking about her most recent projects dealing with the environmental and health impacts of our atomic legacy, including her 2009 installation, “Halfway to Invisible” about uranium mining in the Grants, NM area; and her current work in progress, “Slouching Towards Yucca Mountain” a Sci-Fi Western dealing with the problem of radioactive waste from the nuclear power industry and nuclear weapons. The lecture/workshop will also expand upon her collaborations with environmental scientists mapping the waterborne radioactive plume beneath the Fernald uranium foundry site in Ohio; and a water filter project in collaboration with a materials scientist. Workshop participants will visit the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History, and if access is permitted, Kirtland Airforce Base. Schedule of Events Friday, April 29th Lecture by Eve Andree Laramee 6pm, Tipton Hall Saturday, April 30th & Sunday, May 1st Workshop: Invisible Fire: Mapping our Atomic Legacy TBD April 22nd through May 31st The Work of Eve Andree Laramee & Kim Stringfellow Exhibition Open Mon-Fri, 9 AM to 5 PM Santa Fe Art Institute Gallery For More Information Visit the Santa Fe Art Institute’s website or blog or call (505) 424-5050 “The Return of Navajo Boy” selected for inaugural Uranium Film Fest Calendar April 12, 2011 | Posted by admin >From Groundswell Educational Films The Return of Navajo Boy is the first film selected for the inaugural Uranium Film Festival called Uranio Em Moviemento. The director of the festival also invited Groundswell’s Jeff Spitz (director of The Return of Navajo Boy) and a Navajo representative to attend the festival in May and take part in panel discussions about the impacts of uranium mining on indigenous peoples. The festival, which features films from around the world, will take place from May 21st to 28th in Rio De Janeiro and June 2nd through 9th in Sao Paulo. Films featured in the festival will also be donated to a new program called The Yellow Archives, which will subtitle them in Portuguese and provide them to schools in Portuguese-speaking countries. For more information, visit the Uranium Film Festival website: Uranium Film Festival website The Return of Navajo Boy chronicles an extraordinary chain of events, beginning with the appearance of a 1950s film reel, which lead to the return of a long lost brother to his Navajo family. Living for more than six decades in Monument Valley (on the Arizona/Utah border), the Cly family has an extraordinary history in pictures. Since the1930′s, family members have appeared as unidentified subjects in countless photographs and films shot in Monument Valley including various postcards, Hollywood Westerns and a rare home-movie by legendary director John Ford. But it is the sudden appearance of a rarely seen vintage film that affects their lives the most. Anishinaabe Call to Halt Nuclear Waste Shipments Calendar April 4, 2011 | Posted by admin (Source: http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com) Anishinabe Kweag, a group of women indigenous to the area now called Ontario, is calling on Bruce Power to halt it’s plans to ship 16 decomissioned nuclear steam generators through the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River. The Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River have been the source of life for over 30, 000 years for the Anishinabe People, as well as the Algonquin, Mohawk, Cree and other Indigenous Nations. Says Vicki Monague, spokesperson for Anishinabe Kweag, “We have respectfully called upon Bruce Power to stop its plans to transport the decommissioned nuclear steam generators. The original plan (when the generators were built) would have allowed the steam generators with radioactive waste to be safely stored on site” It is the role of Indigenous People to unify and solidify with our non-native brothers and sisters who now share in this great land against the abuses of our great Mother Earth. We must stand together in solidarity to oppose the shipment of nuclear waste by Bruce Power to Sweden, which will set an evil precedent, opening our shared water ways for future transport of nuclear waste from this and other nuclear plants in Ontario”. The approval of this proposal and issuing of the license by a federal authority directly contradicts Canada’s endorsement of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples which states full and effective participation in all matters that concern our people, lands and waters. For More Information Vicki Monague, [email protected] http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2011/03/anishinabe-women-halt-nuclear-waste.html Arizona Approves Uranium Mining & What You Can Do Calendar April 4, 2011 | Posted by admin Arizona approves uranium mining permits in Grand Canyon 2011 (Source: http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com, March 14, 2011) “Ignoring widespread public opposition, the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality issued three air- and one aquifer-pollution permits for three uranium mines located on public lands within Grand Canyon National Park’s immediate watershed,” said the Center for Biological Diversity, Sierra Club and Grand Canyon Trust. Gathered at sacred Red Butte in the Grand Canyon to oppose uranium mining here in 2009, Supai said this is a sacred place where they go to offer prayers for the protection of the earth. Matthew Putesoy, vice chairman of the Havasupai Nation, said the Grand Canyon is a national treasure, inviting 5 million people every year to explore and be inspired by its beauty. As the ‘guardians of the Grand Canyon,’ we strenuously object to mining for uranium here. It is a threat to the health of our environment and tribe, our tourism-based economy, and our religion. Supai Waters said that protection of the Grand Canyon also affects the weather patterns and climate of the earth. “My people have lived in the canyon since time immemorial. The canyons contain power points and vortexes. If there is tampering or pillaging, the earth will not be the same. American Indian Nations joined local residents to oppose this threat to their water and air. However, Arizona regulators caved in to the pressure from the corporation — Denison Mines based in Toronto, Canada — and the coopted US government. WHAT YOU CAN DO Contact the AZ Dept of Environmental Quality to let them know this uranium permitting is not acceptable Henry Darwin, (602) 771-2204, Director Eric Massey, (602) 771-2308, Air Quality Director Trevor Baggiore, (602) 771-2321, Air Quality Permitting http://www.azdeq.gov/function/about/contact.html For More Information http://censored-news.blogspot.com/2011/03/arizona-issues-uranium-mine-permits-for.html [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ --------------------------------------------------------------------------- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Digest: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Help: <mailto:[email protected]?subject=laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive1: <http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive2: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yahoo! 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