Navajo uranium miners, many with cancer, just lost new compensation in defense bill

Congress removed new compensation for uranium miners and other victims of radiation exposure from the $886.3 million National Defense Authorization Act, which passed Thursday in Washington.

The amendments to the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act were significant because for the first time they acknowledged the sacrifices by uranium workers, including the Navajo people who worked in the uranium mines. The compensation act is now set to expire in July.

“During the Cold War era, we were the first responders in mining uranium, milling uranium to provide for the atomic bomb and weapons development,” said Phil Harrison, a member of the Navajo Uranium Radiation Victims committee. “They need to recognize that. They utilized people that were uneducated, there was just no warning. Now, a lot of people die from lung disease.”

In July, a measure to compensate more people exposed to radiation from uranium mining and nuclear weapons tests passed, raising hopes that the aid would become available across a wider area of Arizona and the Southwest.

The amendment would have extended RECA coverage for another 19 years. It also would have expanded coverage for uranium miners working until 1990, instead of limiting coverage to people working in 1971 and earlier. That has been the cutoff since Congress enacted the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act over 30 years ago. The law provided one-time compensation to uranium workers and downwinders for covered diseases pre-1971.

"Generations of Arizonans on and off tribal lands have suffered from the toxic legacy of uranium mining,” said former Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez, who is currently running for Congress.

During his time as president, Nez worked closely with former Navajo uranium mine workers trying to get RECA expanded and has testified in front of Congress on the need for the expansion.

“While I'm relieved RECA is extended through next year in its current form, this expansion would have made a huge difference for so many who are still struggling without compensation and should have been included in the NDAA,” Nez told The Republic.

“As president of the Navajo Nation, I worked to advocate for RECA and make clear to congressional leaders just how serious an issue this still is."

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, approximately 30 million tons of uranium ore were extracted during mining operations within the Navajo Nation from 1944 to 1986.

“Too many Arizonans living in rural and tribal communities have been exposed to uranium mining and atmospheric radiation, causing serious health effects,” Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., posted on X (formerly Twitter). “Downwinders deserve to be fairly compensated. I’m going to keep working with Republicans and Democrats to get this done.”

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Miners were given no information about the risks

Harrison, the victims advocate, is from Cove, the Arizona community where uranium mining on Navajo Nation began in 1949. From World War II until 1971, the government was the sole purchaser of uranium ore in the United States. Mining in Cove ceased in the late 1960s, but continued elsewhere throughout the Navajo Nation until the 1980s.

He comes from a family of uranium miners, including his dad and uncles. But that was what also killed them. At the age of 43, Harrison lost his dad to lung cancer and one by one, all 15 of his mining uncles succumbed to lung disease. Now Harrison is fighting the health issues that he has been left with from being a miner and working as a remediation specialist.

He said when he started working as a miner in 1969 at the John Brown Uranium Mine in Gateway, Colo., he was given a shovel with no other information about how dangerous uranium mining would be.

“During my mining days I was given no warnings or instructions about the consequences that’s going to happen,” Harrison said. “All during that time a lot of miners drank the contaminated water that came from a temporary cistern developed like a water fountain.”

At the time, it wasn’t considered a big deal among the miners to drink the water. They would take it home for their family to drink and use. Despite a long and well-developed understanding, based on the European experience earlier in the century, uranium mining led to high rates of lung cancer, and few protections were provided for miners, which many former miners believe was on purpose.

“There are a lot of people who have lung disease and who are on oxygen,” Harrison said. “I know these guys. I’ve been at these homes with dirt floors, no water, they’re on oxygen and people are suffering right now. They don’t notice this is happening now. It’s not just myself, we have people who are dying.”

As he assisted a uranium miner friend with filling out claims, Harrison said, his friend died from kidney failure before his compensation and now his family is struggling.

“I’ve been an advocate for over 45 years because it hits close to home,” Harrison said. “I lost a lot of my family. Two months ago my uncle died from lung cancer, my other uncles died from lung cancer and these people were veterans. They were members of the armed forces. If you really look at it, we were the first responders and no one will take notice.”

Harrison later worked in Tuba City at a rare metal site that processed yellow cake. He said he was told by physicians that he was exposed to seven different toxic chemicals and substances, and he was never compensated. Since May, Harrison has had to undergo three surgeries.

"They told me that 'There's no money for you.' People like myself, they need to be covered," Harrison said. "There's a lot of other remediation people and core drillers that are sick now. There's a lot of dialysis centers on the Navajo Nation, and the majority of them are uranium workers."

Harrison said he was shocked that House Republicans, working behind closed doors, took compensation amendments out. He had worked hard to advocate and raise awareness with the Navajo Uranium Radiation Victims committee trying to secure expansion of RECA.

"They have no heart, House Republicans," Harrison said. "So maybe next leadership might be able to recognize what we have done. So we are very, very disappointed and appalled by the action taken by the House Republicans."

Arlyssa Becenti covers Indigenous affairs for The Arizona Republic and azcentral. Send ideas and tips to arlyssa.becenti@arizonarepublic.com.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Navajo uranium miners lose compensation in Defense Authorization Act