Aug
2010
Native American Miners Merit Workers Compensation
August 26th, 2010 at 07:39 am by FreshAire in Government & Non-profitFor decades, the mines deep under the Colorado Plateau has been worked by American Indians.Working in these mines means running drills that will gouge out the yellow uranium ore from the rocks.This uranium was used in the nuclear warheads that the US deployed around the country and that eventually helped win the Cold War.
However, many of the miners themselves have become Cold War casualties. Radiation from the uranium in the mines has left the workers with serious illnesses and cancer; some have already died from these complications.Those that have survived such sicknesses still continue to fight for their lives and many have lost family members.Find out more about compensation lawyer through this website.
Dialysis treatments have left many of the workers with vicious scars on their arms.Kidney failure is just one of the illnesses caused by the condition in these mines.It was proven that the drinking water in the mines contained traces of radioactive minerals, and most of the workers blame the water for contributing to their health problems.
In 1990, Congress passed the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act.The goal in passing this law was to assist uranium miners who are suffering as a result of exposure to radiation while they worked the mines.This mining was undertaken strictly for the advancement of the American nuclear weapons program.
The law provides $100,000 to each underground uranium miner. They must meet the condition that they suffer from a specific variety of lung ailments that have been associated with exposure to radiation.While hundreds of miners have met all of the preconditions necessary to begin receiving payments, most have yet to see a single dime.As a person looking for personal injury lawyer you should visit that site.
The reason for this is the compensation law itself has set up almost impossible hurdles for these Indian miners. The first barrier they face is satisfying the application requirements, which must be done in English.English is not a language that many Indians understand well.
Of the 242 miners who have applied for compensation through the Office of Navajo Uranium Workers, only 96 have been approved. The total number of claims filed by former uranium miners approved by the Justice Department is 1,314.They have rejected another 1,316 requests.
Workers are also required to provide check stubs or other documentation substantiating their claims of how much time was spent in the mines.After decades of work in the mines, many applicants don’t have documentation going back so far.Furthermore, these are difficult to obtain through authorities.
These uranium mines first became active sometime in 1947 on the Navajo Indian Reservation.Jobs were needed in the area, so the mines were welcomed by the community.The American Indians wanted to jobs notwithstanding the low wages and poor working conditions.
At that time radon was one of the greatest dangers in those mines.Decaying uranium produces this odorless, invisible, radioactive gas.Most of the lung ailments required for eligibility of government compensation under the Act is believed to be acquired by exposure to radon.
In order to facilitate the process of receiving compensation for their injuries, past miners and tribal leaders plan to petition Congress for modification of the bill in the fall.The hardest problem for the government will be telling the Navajo miners that the compensation is not based solely on the work they’ve done.
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