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FRIDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2001

A group of Hispanics in northern New Mexico have filed a class-action lawsuit against the Department of Energy and the Department of Defense, alleging health and safety violations and illegal confiscation of land.

The group alleges the government forced many into slave labor, paying them as little as $1 a day to work on the Manhattan Project at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. The project gave birth to the atomic bomb.

The group also claims they were forced off their land by the government and never compensated for the loss.

San Ildefonso Pueblo also lost land to the nuclear effort. The DOE is supposed to be cleaning up and returning some of the land, which includes sacred sites and hunting areas, to the tribe.

Get the Story:
'40s Nuke Project Harmed Hispanics, Suit Says (The Albuquerque Journal 10/12)

Relevant Links:
Revised tribal policy, Department of Energy - http://www.hanford.gov/doe/inp/proginfo.htm
Tribal Nations Involvement, Office of Environmental Management - http://www.em.doe.gov/public/tribal
Los Alamos National Laboratory - http://www.lanl.gov

Related Stories:
Pueblo land funds partially restored (7/20)
Abraham defends DOE cleanup cuts (4/20)
DOE Budget: Indian funds cut (4/13)