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Letter: Apology to downwinders is a good start. Expanding and extending compensation should come next.

FILE - In this April 22, 1952 file photo a gigantic pillar of smoke with the familiar mushroom top climbs above Yucca Flat, Nev. during nuclear test detonation. A defense spending bill pending in Congress includes an apology to New Mexico, Nevada, Utah and other states affected by nuclear testing over the decades, but communities downwind from the first atomic test in 1945 are still holding out for compensation amid rumblings about the potential for the U.S. to resume nuclear testing. (AP Photo,File)

FILE - In this April 22, 1952 file photo a gigantic pillar of smoke with the familiar mushroom top climbs above Yucca Flat, Nev. during nuclear test detonation. A defense spending bill pending in Congress includes an apology to New Mexico, Nevada, Utah and other states affected by nuclear testing over the decades, but communities downwind from the first atomic test in 1945 are still holding out for compensation amid rumblings about the potential for the U.S. to resume nuclear testing. (AP Photo,File)

As someone who has watched too many family members suffer the effects of radioactive fallout from nuclear testing, I want to thank Utah’s House of Representatives for voting for an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act that extends an extended apology to those affected by their exposure.

I hope that Reps. Moore, Stewart and Curtis go beyond an apology to adding their names to the co-sponsors of the bill introduced last week in the House to expand and extend compensation to downwinders. (HR5338).

I thank Rep. Burgess Owens for his co-sponsorship of the bill and hope his fellow congressmen will jump on board. Their support will make all the difference to downwinders throughout Utah and surrounding states. Otherwise, their apology for the grave injustice and harm perpetuated by our own government on its citizens will ring hollow.

Susan Holman, Taylorsville

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By Susan Holman | The Public Forum