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A New Mexico lawmaker wants the state to spend more money to help clean up sites that could contaminate land, water and air.

State Senator Jeff Steinborn, D-Las Cruces, has filed a bill to allocate $50 million in one-time funding to address abandoned uranium mines, sites of defunct dry cleaners and oil and gas operations. Steinborn has called the mines and other polluted areas “ticking time bombs," for their long-lasting disruption to people and ecosystems.

Diné anti-nuclear activist Leona Morgan, co-founder of Haul No!, said New Mexico's Navajo people suffer disproportionately from uranium-related health issues.

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"Kidney disease, autoimmune disease," she said, "and then of course, you hear from women that live near these sites about miscarriages, reproductive problems – so we need more studies, especially from rural communities."

Last year, the Legislature allocated $20 million to clean up abandoned uranium mines, while experts have said hundreds of millions will be necessary.

The state recently announced cleanup operations would begin at four McKinley County mines along New Mexico’s western edge, many on or near the Navajo Nation or Zuni, Acoma and Laguna Pueblos.

In 1979, Northwest New Mexico suffered the largest radioactive accident in U.S. history when a dam holding millions of gallons of nuclear waste collapsed at the Church Rock uranium mine and mill site.

Morgan said toxic exposure suffered by people in the American Southwest, especially Indigenous peoples, is often forgotten.

"The reality is, because of the extent of mining," she said, "there's so many other communities that don't get attention, don't get any type of different sampling or water testing, soil sampling, and they're just living in it permanently."

Uranium mining largely ended 40 years ago, and some mine operators responsible for cleanup can't be found. The federal government has been involved in remediation but progress has been slow, underfunded and inadequate to address the scope of the problem.

Despite the lax response, a 2025 Trump administration executive order would revive nuclear power, with old uranium mines being reactivated in Arizona, Texas and Wyoming, while permits are being expedited for new ones.