American Indian Miners Are A Cold War Casualty
American Indians have been working in mines deep below the Colorado Plateau for decades
. Their job was to with drill deep into the rock and mine out soft uranium ore.The uranium that was mined was used to create nuclear warheads for the United States during the Cold War, a key factor in its victory.
However, many of the miners themselves have become Cold War casualties. Most have either died or are dying from cancers and other illnesses as a direct result of their exposure to the uranium radiation inside the mines.
Survivors continue a daily battle for life, and many have had to bury family and friends.
The majority of these workers have arms that are covered with scars from being on dialysis treatments. The dialysis is necessary as many of the workers are already suffering with kidney failure.
The majority of workers blamed the drinking water that was in the mines, and traces of radioactive minerals in it have been proven scientifically.
1990 saw the passage of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act by the Congress. The purpose of this law was to help uranium miners and others who have suffered and continue to suffer as a result of the mining work undertaken.
The fact is that the majority of this work was simply done to advance the country's nuclear weapons program.
According to the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, each underground uranium miner is given $100,000. In order to qualify, the miner must have one of the six different lung diseases that has been linked to exposure to radiation.
Unfortunately to this day hundreds of Native American miners who are eligible to receive compensation have not received it.
The language of the compensation law creates a lot of difficult red tape for the miners to go through.
The paperwork, for example, must be completed in English only. For many American Indians, English is a foreign language that is not easily understood.
The Office of Navajo Uranium Workers has submitted 242 applications to the US Government, and only 96 of these have successfully gone through.
The Justice Department states that a total of 1,314 claims filed by uranium miners have been approved. Another 1,316 miners' applications have been denied.
The required records to prove that one actually worked in a uranium mine include paycheck stubs, as well as other forms of documentation.
Workers who spend time mining, decades ago, do not usually keep stubs from their paychecks. In addition, trying to recover the documentation through the authorities has been difficult.
Uranium mines, both on and around the Navajo Indian Reservation, opened in 1947. The jobs and careers that accompanied the mines were welcomed in the beginning.
This was despite the low wages and poor conditions offered.
Outside of the pure uranium ore itself, radon is a huge concern in the mines. Decaying uranium produces this odor and color free radioactive gas.
Exposure to radon is believed to be a cause of most of the lung ailments that make miners eligible for government compensation.
The current plan this fall is for former miners and tribal officials to lobby Congress to make changes in this compensation law to clear the way for these former miners to receive the payments due.
The problem facing the government is that all Navajo miners think that they receive compensation not based on anything else but their work.
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