Downwinders Call for More Public Input on Divine Strake

For Release January 2, 2007

Downwinders United, a group of downwind victims of nuclear testing from seven states, is calling for more public hearings before a massive blast known as Divine Strake is scheduled this spring at the Nevada Test Site.

The Pentagon’s Defense Threat Reduction Agency announced just before Christmas that it would hold public hearings on Divine Strake in Las Vegas, Salt Lake City and St. George. But, that’s not good enough, says the group of downwinders, who have learned that the Pentagon-hosted hearings won’t actually seek public comment but instead are designed to convince the public that the test will be safe.

The National Nuclear Security Administration told Utah Rep. Jim Matheson’s office and Heal Utah that the hearings are meant to “educate” the public about the planned test and that public comment won’t be taken.

“All the Pentagon plans is a dog and pony show. In our book that’s pure propaganda,” says Preston Truman of Malad, Idaho, who heads Downwinders. “Three town hall meetings with power points and a poster board are not acceptable in view of the past legacy of fallout deceit and lies.

The group wants the public to have a real opportunity to speak out. “We want hearings, not tellings,” says Truman. “This isn’t the 50s. The public won’t tolerate radiation without representation.”

Downwinders United wants additional hearings held on the Navajo Reservation, in Kingman, Arizona, Idaho, Montana, southwestern Colorado and northwestern New Mexico – all areas documented to have been hit hard by fallout from past weapons testing.”

Downwinders remain skeptical of assurances from the Department of Energy and related nuclear defense agencies asserting “there is no danger.”

“You’ll have to pardon us if we don’t believe the government when it tells us that Divine Strake is safe,” says Salt Laker Mary Dickson of Downwinders United. “We’ve heard these assurances before and experience has taught us to be very skeptical of anything the government says concerning what happens at the test site.”

The Pentagon has predicted that the 700-ton conventional blast will release a 10,000 foot cloud of debris. While Divine Strake does not use nuclear materials, 928 nuclear devices were detonated at the test site. “Government statements that radioactive isotopes left from those tests will not be sucked up into the debris are eerily reminiscent of the hollow assurances we heard throughout the years of atomic testing,” says Dickson.

Downwinders also have serious concerns about monitoring for the test. Only 28 monitoring stations are located in communities surrounding and downwind of the Nevada Test Site. The only stations located in Utah are in St. George and Cedar City. Northern Utah, which evidence shows was hit as hard during the years of atomic testing as was southern Utah, has no monitors. Nor are there monitors in Arizona, Idaho or other surrounding states.

“Downwinders across the West deserve a true opportunity to address all issues related to Divine Strake,” says Truman. “That includes concerns over possible radiation and inadequate monitoring, as well as the overarching question of the need for the test. We suspect that the test is merely an attempted end-run around Congress, which terminated funding for nuclear bunker buster research. We want to know if this test is a covert attempt to keep alive the dream among weapons interests to someday resume underground testing.”