Editor,
From 1972 to 1993, the Terminal Effects Research and Analysis Group - a department of the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology - tested and developed weapons containing depleted uranium on the mountain next to the community of Socorro.
In 1986, there was significant discussion within the community when it learned that the testing was with a radioactive material. The people of Socorro had been told by the Institute of Mining and Technology that it was conventional explosives that were being tested. The depleted uranium testing had been kept secret from the people of Socorro for 14 years - the school cited national security as the reason for not disclosing the information.
On Aug. 30, 1987, then-Gov. Garrey Carruthers replied to the community's concerns by authorizing the Environmental Improvement Division to conduct a baseline study of the presence of uranium-238 in water and soil in and around the city of Socorro. As expected, depleted uranium contamination was found at various test sites, and radiation levels in some water wells were above normal.
The Environmental Improvement Division report concluded in part that since the data is "measurable through laboratory analysis and since sites for sampling are recorded and mapped, this information delineates a good baseline for future sampling of soils and waters during active TERA programs and after closure of activities."
Officials from the Institute of Mining and Technology and the renamed New Mexico Environment Department have said the testing of depleted uranium stopped in 1993, and the contamination has been cleaned up.
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Great - now the reasonable thing to do is to repeat the study so we can be reassured that the land and water around us is not contaminated.
Damacio Lopez
Daily Lobo reader
