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SB 610: COMMUNITY HEALTH STUDY FUND & URANIUM MINING

An Act Relating To Community Health; Creating The Community Health Study Fund; Requiring The Department Of Health To Conduct A Comprehensive Health Study Of Residents Of Local Communities Affected By Contamination Resulting From Uranium Mining Activities; Providing For Financial Penalties; Making An Appropriation.

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HIGH SB 610
COMMUNITY HEALTH STUDY FUND & URANIUM MINING

Legislative URL:
SB 610 on nmlegis.gov
Emergency Clause:
No
Germane:
N/A
Location:
SJC
Action:
[9] SPAC/SJC/SFC-SPAC [39] DP-SJC API.
Issue(s):

Companion Bills

Bills:
COMMUNITY HEALTH STUDY FUND & URANIUM MINING

Related Legislators

Bill Sponsor:

Related Documents

Downloads:
Introduced
SPAC Committee Report
Fiscal Impact Report
Summary

This bill creates the Community Health Study Fund, administered by the Department of Health (DOH), with money in the fund appropriated to the DOH to conduct, between July 1, 2015 and June 30, 2018, a comprehensive study to evaluate the health of people working or living in communities associated with current and historical uranium mining and milling activities, including federally designated superfund sites, in New Mexico.

 

The Community Health Study will:

(1)      identify those communities that have suffered air, land and water contamination from uranium mining and milling, both historically and currently;

(2)      compile existing data that quantify the levels of uranium and related contamination in those communities;

(3)      compile existing health data of persons living in these communities and establish a baseline of the current health of communities in which proposed uranium mining activities may be permitted by state and federal agencies;

(4)      create a health profile for these communities that indicates levels or rates of cancer, kidney disease, birth defects, mental health problems and other maladies that health experts have associated with uranium mining and milling activities; and

(5)      propose to the appropriate state agencies and commissions conditions on permits that can mitigate the health consequences of permitted uranium mining and milling, as well as mitigation efforts directed at alleviating the continuing consequences of historical uranium mining and milling activities.

 

Whenever the Director of the Mining and Minerals Division of the Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department or the Secretary of Environment determines that there has been a release from a uranium mining operation that has affected or has the potential to affect water, public health or the environment, the Director or the Secretary will issue an order to any responsible party requiring that party to pay a fee in the amount of one percent of the estimated cleanup cost, which fee shall be deposited into the Community Health Study Fund.

 

The Secretary of Health will report to the appropriate interim legislative committee no later than October 1 of each year regarding expenditures from the fund, the purposes for which expenditures were made, an analysis of the progress of the study, an estimate of whether the imposition of fees needs to continue beyond June 30, 2018, and any proposals for legislative action.

 

A potential benefit of this bill might be enhanced knowledge about, and greater likelihood of meaningful remediation of, adverse health impacts of air, land and water contamination from uranium mining and milling.