Earth Matters /
Jay Coghlan & Tina Cordova on NM Nuclear Legacy

Posted on 2 August 2015 by admin

The Legacy of the US Nuclear Weapons Program in New Mexico with
Jay Coghlan / Nuclear Watch New Mexico and
Tina Cordova / Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium

On July 16, 1945, the United States detonated the first atom bomb at the Trinity Site within the Tularosa Basin in the southern New Mexico desert northeast of Truth or Consequences.  Weeks later our country dropped nuclear bombs on Japan, killing hundreds of thousands of people and ending the Second World War.  This week marks the 70th anniversary of the US bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Allyson Siwik – Earth Matters co-producer and Executive Director of the Gila Resources Information Project – talks about the legacy of the US nuclear weapons program in New Mexico with Jay Coghlan, Executive Director of Nuclear Watch New Mexico, one of the nation’s most effective grassroots nuclear watchdog organizations, and Tina Cordova, co-founder of the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium, working to ensure that the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act is extended to include the people of New Mexico.

These are complex subjects but the following links provide extensive information…

  • Nuclear Watch New Mexico (http://nukewatch NULL.org/)
  • New Mexico Downwinders Consortium (http://www NULL.nmdownwinders NULL.com/)
  • New Mexico Downwinders Consortium/how to help
    (http://nmdownwinders NULL.com/how-to-help/)    Take Action to Support Compensation for the NM downwinders
  • Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (http://www NULL.justice NULL.gov/civil/common/reca)
  • Children of the Bomb (http://childrenofthebomb NULL.blogspot NULL.com) – A documentary film
  • Tom Udall re: Trinity Downwinders (https://youtu NULL.be/CeymX8K_CwA)
    Tom Udall addresses Congress about extending compensation to Trinity downwinders – https://youtu.be/CeymX8K_CwA

News articles and programs:

  • PBS / Living legacy of world’s first atomic bomb test (http://www NULL.pbs NULL.org/newshour/bb/new-mexicans-claim-cancer-living-legacy-worlds-first-atomic-bomb-test/)
  • KOB TV / Tularosa Basin residents tell Udall of health struggles after Trinity test (http://www NULL.kob NULL.com/article/stories/s3841055 NULL.shtml# NULL.VZr8eUY3TK0)
  • Alamogordo News / Udall meets Tularosa Downwinders (http://www NULL.alamogordonews NULL.com/alamogordo-news/ci_28428620/udall-meets-tularosa-downwinders)
  • SF New Mexican / Tularosa Basin Downwinders seek recognition (http://www NULL.santafenewmexican NULL.com/news/local_news/downwinders-seek-acknowledgement-that-trinity-test-caused-suffering/article_617f9d01-299a-5d3d-b278-01b8fb5775a8 NULL.html# NULL.VaPq04aPwa8 NULL.email)
  • Al Jazeera / Health concerns persist 70 years after 1st Atomic Bomb (http://america NULL.aljazeera NULL.com NULL./watch/shows/live-news/2015/7/health-concerns-persist-70-years-after-the-first-atomic-bomb-detonated NULL.html)

70th Anniversary US Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima & Nagasaki Commemorative Events:

  • Film Screening / Message from Hiroshima
    Thursday 6 August 2015 / 70th Anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima
    Center for Contemporary Arts, Santa Fe, NM
    http://www.ccasantafe.org/cinematheque/upcoming-films/382-nuke-watch (http://www NULL.ccasantafe NULL.org/cinematheque/upcoming-films/382-nuke-watch)
  • Hiroshima & Nagasaki Commemoration
    Sunday 9 August 2015 / 70th Anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
    Gough Park / Silver City, NM / 12:30pm
    Sponsored by the Silver City Friends Meeting
  • Public Forum: Nuclear New Mexico, Past and Future
    Thursday 20 August 2015 / 6pm
    WNMU Miller Library.  The panelists included David Culp (Friends Committee on National Legislation) and Paul Magno, who has long experience with Plowshares.  Both are from Washington, D.C.  Elizabeth Driggers represented Sen. Tom Udall’s office and Sen. Martin Heinrich submitted a letter of support read by moderator Nick Seibel – publisher of the Silver City Daily Press.

The Forum was hosted by WNMU, Grant County Democratic Party and Silver City Friends Meeting.

In observance of the 70th Anniversaries of the 1st detonation of a nuclear weapon at the Trinity Site in the Tularosa Basin of New Mexico and the US nuclear attacks upon Hiroshima and Nakagaski, GMCR & KURU are presenting several programs related to these events that have changed the world and threaten its ultimate destruction.  Follow the links below to hear these programs.

Earth Matters airs Tuesday & Thursday at 10am and 8pm.
The podcast will be available shortly via this link…
Earth Matters / Jay Coghlan & Tina Cordova on Nuke

Please note that beginning September 2015, Earth Matters will be broadcast on GMCR & KURU on Tuesday, Thursday & Sunday at 10am and Thursday at 8pm.

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