Representative Paul Gosar (R-AZ) reintroduced legislation over the weekend to reauthorize and expand the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) of 1990 to include parts of Mohave County, Arizona, and Clark County, Nevada.
As we covered last March, the 1990 RECA Act compensated victims of radiation exposure from nuclear testing and uranium mining in the American Southwest between 1945 and 1962.
In June 2024, RECA expired after a two-year extension was signed in 2022.
However, as ABC15 explained, parts of Mohave County, such as Kingman, were excluded from RECA compensation despite being closer to nuclear testing sites.
Rep. Gosar's March bill sought to extend RECA by six years and increase the lump-sum compensation to $100,000, initially reserved for uranium miners under the original act (downwinders would receive $50,000), along with the expansions into Mohave and Clark Counties.
As a result of RECA's expiration, Rep. Gosar said, "Atomic weapons testing conducted during the Cold War at the Nevada Test Site came with a heavy cost to Americans living in Arizona, Nevada and within tribal communities. Every person, known as "downwinders," who developed cancer or other related illnesses after being exposed to radiation from atomic weapons testing deserves to be compensated by the federal government."
Despite coverage, the Arizona Congressman continued, "Unfortunately, RECA failed to properly define the boundaries of impacted populations and many downwinders that resided in counties in close proximity to where the testing occurred, including in Mohave County, Arizona, and Clark County, Nevada, were mistakenly excluded from the program for no logical reason."
"Not only were downwinders residing in Mohave and Clark counties closer to the Nevada Test Site than residents in other eligible counties, but they also have the second-highest overall incidence rate of cancer in their respective states," Gosar added.
Therefore, he concluded, "Congress has a moral responsibility to reauthorize RECA and update it by including both Mohave and Clark counties as affected areas."
In July, Gosar clashed with President Biden's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator, Michael Regan, for answers on apparent RECA expansion into Missouri despite the EPA's prioritization of superfunds and radioactive landfill sites in Missouri. Expanding RECA compensation to these areas would have been redundant.
