[NV Greens] FW: RELEASE: Groups Demand real Hearings and an EIS on Divine Strake

[charleslaws at att.net]

And where is the GPNV mentioned?
John?

-------------- Forwarded Message: --------------
From: "wsdp" <wsdp at igc.org>
To: <wsdp at igc.org>
Subject: RELEASE:  Groups Demand real Hearings and an EIS on Divine Strake
Date: Thu, 11 Jan 2007 03:36:25 +0000
> 
> Jan 9, 2007
> 
> 
>  
> Groups Demand Real Hearings and an EIS on Divine Strake (Nuclear
> Simulation Blast) 
>  
> For Immediate Release 
> 
> Joint Press Release 
> 
> Contacts:  John Hadder, HOME (775) 624-6975; Lee Dazey, WSDP (775)
> 324-3592; Vanessa Pierce, Heal Utah (801)-364-5110; Peggy Maze Johnson,
> Citizen Alert (702) 807-1884; and Carrie Dann, WSDP (775) 468-0230,
> Jeremy Maxand, Snake River Alliance, (208) 344-9161; Deanna Taylor, Blue
> Sky Institute and or Desert Greens, Green Party of Utah (801) 631-2998;
> and Eileen McCabe Desert Greens, Green Party of Utah (801) 201-0219
> Applauding the recommendations of Nevada and Utah congressional members
> and former Governor Guinn's request to Energy Secretary Bodman to
> complete a supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (s-EIS) in
> preparation for the Divine Strake explosion, the Divine Strake
> Coalition, including dozens of indigenous, peace, environmental justice,
> disarmament groups and Western Shoshone leaders, are echoing the dire
> need for an EIS. 
>  
> An s-EIS is needed since an activity like Divine Strake was not
> evaluated in the original EIS (1996) for the NTS. This would allow more
> public involvement into the purpose for Divine Strake. Concerned
> citizens fear that the blast, which is predicted to create a 10,000 foot
> mushroom cloud, will re-suspend long-lived radioactive contaminants in
> the soil at the Nevada Test Site, putting Western Shoshone communities,
> Utahns and other civilian downwind populations once again at risk.
> Citizens are also concerned that information from the test will lead to
> the development of new nuclear weapons and the resumption of nuclear
> weapons testing. The formal EIS process requires public involvement
> prior to the environmental analysis to develop the "scope" of the study,
> and follow up comment on a draft document.  
>  
> On December 20th, the National Nuclear Security Agency (NNSA) released a
> revised Environmental Assessment and disclosed their schedule of public
> information sessions in Las Vegas, Salt Lake and St. George; but these
> sessions will not include a public hearing on the issue. Instead, NNSA
> officials said that the public sessions are basically open house
> meetings where people can look at informational posters and ask
> questions.
>  
> "In our opinion this event is nothing more than a public relations ploy
> allowing the Pentagon and Department of Energy to shower the public with
> propaganda." - HEAL Director Vanessa Pierce. 
>  
> Outside of Las Vegas, no sessions were scheduled in other areas of
> Nevada, Idaho, or in Western Shoshone territory where people were
> exposed to radioactive fallout during the nuclear testing era. Given the
> decision of the United Nations Committee to Eliminate Racial
> Discrimination (UNCERD) last March urging the United States to "freeze",
> "desist" and "stop" actions being taken, or threatened to be taken,
> against the Western Shoshone Peoples of the Western Shoshone Nation,
> this is an egregious violation. The UNCERD decision referred to a number
> of actions and threats including ongoing weapons testing at the Nevada
> Test Site as well as efforts to build an unprecedented high-level
> nuclear waste repository at adjacent Yucca Mountain. 
>  
> "There is nothing divine about weaponry that's going to contaminate the
> water, air and land," says Western Shoshone grandmother Carrie Dann,
> Executive Director of the Western Shoshone Defense Project, WSDP. "It
> seems that it is premeditated murder of the future generations. This
> Administration is not God nor is it sacred or holy."
>  
> The purpose of Divine Strake, an explosion of 700 tons of ammonium
> nitrate and fuel oil that would be 50 times larger than the largest
> conventional weapon in the U.S. arsenal has not been clarified. 
>  
> "Originally the Defense Department's budget documents identified Divine
> Strake as necessary to determine the smallest proper nuclear yield
> necessary to destroy underground targets," said Lee Dazey with WSDP.
> "After questions were raised that information from the blast will aid in
> the design of new nuclear weapons, NNSA officials stepped back, claiming
> that there were no nuclear applications for the test."
>  
> Groups remain unconvinced that it is conventional weapons that the U.S.
> would use on deeply buried targets and tunnels because the sheer mass of
> conventional explosives that would be needed (~0.6 kiloton, i.e. 600
> tons of TNT) would be too large to be practical as a conventional
> weapon.  
>  
> "The Environmental Assessment skirts around the role that Divine Strake
> could play in the development of new nuclear weapons since it is
> politically unpopular and counter to the DOE's statement that no 'new
> nuclear weapons' are being developed," said John Hadder of HOME.  "One
> such new nuclear weapon is the "nuclear bunker buster," which would be
> consistent with the goals of the Complex 2030 proposal to make the US
> Nuclear Weapons Complex more 'responsive' and 'capable.'" 
>  
> Since NNSA public meetings on Divine Strake do not include a formal
> public comment period where concerned citizens can hear one another's
> concerns, Divine Strake coalition member groups in Utah and Nevada are
> hosting press events and organizational meetings to record these
> concerns and enter them into the record before the February 7th
> deadline. 
>  
> Citizen Alert is holding a Press Conference in the Las Vegas Cashman
> Center Lobby at 5:30 pm this evening and invites the public to come
> express their concerns.
>   
> The WSDP and HOME will host public session in Reno next week, Thursday
> January 18th at 6 pm. Contact John Hadder or Lee Dazey for location. We
> will videotape the public's comments and submit them to NNSA.
> 
>  
> 
> 
> "Public Information Sessions"
> 
> 
>  
> 
> 
> Las Vegas        January 9, 2007            6:30 - 9:00 pm  Cashman
> Center
> 
>  
> Salt Lake         January 10, 2007          6:30 - 9:00 pm  Energy
> Solutions Arena
>  
>             St, George       January 11, 2007          6:30 - 9:00 pm
> Dixie Center
>  
> -30-
>  
>  
>  
>  
>  
>  
>  
> Western Shoshone Defense Project
> P.O. Box 211308
> Crescent Valley, NV  89821
> 775-468-0230
> 775-468-0237 (fax)
> www.wsdp.org
> wsdp at igc.org
>  



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