New website accepting applications for radiation exposure claims

It's been a long time coming, but finally, compensation will be coming to New Mexicans and their families who were exposed to radiation from the testing of atomic weapons in the 1940s.

Sen. Ben Ray Lujan (D-N.M.), who was instrumental in getting Congress to expand the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, announced Friday that the U.S. Department of Justice has launched an online portal for people to apply for RECA claims.

Lujan, along with Sen. Martin Heinrich and Representatives Melanie Stansbury, Terese Leger Fernandez, and Gabe Vasquez, sent an open letter to New Mexico's holders of health care records, birth and death records, tax records and school records. and all necessary documents, asking for their full cooperation in helping compensate New Mexican exposed to radiation.

Tina Cordova, co-founder of the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium, said early reports from people applying for claims on the portal said it will make the process much easier.

"Our hope is that the Department of Justice actually has enough staff to handle all the claims that will now be submitted through the online portal," Cordova said. "We want everybody that's entitled to receive a one-time payment of $100,000 on behalf of themselves because they've been sick or on behalf of a loved one that's been sick."

Cordova said she knows at least a dozen people who filed through the mail and have already received a direct deposit of $100,000.

She also cautioned about bad actors using the online address of downwinders.com, pretending to be her organization, are saying they will file claims for them in exchange for a slice of whatever they get.

"They say, by simply contributing 6% of your claim to the downwinders organization, we will file the claim on your behalf, and we'll get you to the front of the line, and we can guarantee results," Cordova said. "And all of that is fraud."

The link to the RECA claims online portal is reca.justice.gov/ClaimsPortal

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