SM 56

This memorial resolution designates February 15, 2019 as "Uranium Workers Day" in the New Mexico Senate to honor the contributions of uranium industry workers and acknowledge the ongoing health and environmental impacts from historical uranium mining operations in the state. The resolution recognizes that New Mexico's Grants mineral belt was once the world's most productive uranium district, employing approximately 7,000 people at its peak in 1978, but also acknowledges the severe health consequences faced by these workers—including increased rates of lung cancer, kidney disease, and other illnesses—as well as the hundreds of abandoned and unreclaimed mine sites that continue to affect local communities. The memorial directs that copies be sent to New Mexico's congressional delegation, tribal leaders of affected pueblos and the Navajo Nation, and county commissioners in the most impacted areas.