A petition offered by Arizona Congressman Paul Gosar, D.D.S was denied by the House Committee on Rules which would have allowed the Mohave County Radiation Compensation Act of 2013, H.R. 424, to be considered during re-authorization of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) debate. Gosar says he will continue to get the law passed other ways.
This legislation would ensure that residents of Mohave County who may have been exposed to radiation poisoning from nuclear weapons tests between 1952 and 1962, are eligible for compensation pursuant to an existing federal fund, the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA). The current law excludes residents from Mohave County even though the radiation plume impacted residents of Mohave County.
According to the National Research Council and the National Academy of Sciences Mohave County’s lack of inclusion is in error since hundreds of Mohave County residents were impacted by these weapons tests. Gosar urged Congress to include H.R. 424 in the NDAA and to amend RECA.
“The Federal Government has now twice victimized the Downwinders, and Congress needs to remedy this injustice. First by creating the radiation plume, and second by excluding these citizens from the compensation fund,” said Gosar in a statement released Friday. “Those in Mohave County who have contracted cancer or other serious illnesses as a result of radiation should be rightfully part of the eligible applicants. Congress formally apologized on behalf of the country, and promised to make it up to the Downwinders. I intend to hold Congress to that promise. I will continue to seek justice for the Downwinders.”