NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING ON PROPOSED "DIVINE STRAKE" WEAPON TEST

This week and next, Governor Huntsman is doing what the federal government has failed to do: give Utahns an opportunity to voice their concerns about the Divine Strake weapons test.  If you're concerned about mushroom clouds appearing once again on Utah's horizon, please take this opportunity to speak up:

What can you do?

1) Attend one the hearings. These are the only opportunities to speak out.

St. George: Thursday, January 18th, 5:00-8:00pm, Dunford Auditorium, Browning Building, Dixie State College

Salt Lake City : Wednesday, January 24th, 5:30-8:30pm, Room 135, West Building, Utah State Capitol

2) Call Governor Huntsman. Thank him for scheduling these hearings and ask him to keep doing everything in his power to stop Divine Strake from taking place. Gov. Huntsman can be reached at (801) 538-1000.

3) Call Senator Hatch. Senator Hatch has called himself a "great stopper of things,” but he has yet to call for the cancellation of the test.  Ask him to pull out all the stops to stop Divine Strake.  Sen. Hatch can be reached

at: Washington DC Office (202) 224-5251, Salt Lake (801) 524-4380, St.

George (435) 634-1795

What is Divine Strake?

The Divine Strake weapons test is designed, according to budget documents, to simulate a low-yield nuclear weapon. The test will explode 700 tons of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil and produce a 10,000-foot mushroom cloud at the Nevada Test Site.

What is the danger?

The mushroom cloud from Divine Strake may stir up fallout from the hundreds of above and below ground nuclear tests conducted at the Nevada Test Site from the 1950s to the 1990s.  This fallout would then be carried downwind, exposing communities and contaminating ecosystems, including proposed wilderness areas. While the government's initial environmental assessment issued in May declared that no radiation would become airborne or escape the Nevada Test Site, the latest revision states that "resuspension of fallout could travel beyond the NTS boundary where it might contribute to the radiological dose of the public."  The government's change of tune on this matter does not lend well to public trust, and with minimal monitoring infrastructure in place to track a potential fallout cloud, the risks and unknowns are overwhelming.

Divine Strake may also be a precursor to renewed nuclear weapons testing, and this may in fact be the greatest threat to Utahns.  The Department of Energy has recently undertaken a massive effort to overhaul the nation's nuclear weapons stockpile and weapons-making facilities.  Divine Strake may be the first step towards developing a new generation of nuclear weapons, which would likely be tested, exposing downwind communities once again.

For decades, Utahns were lied to about the safety of nuclear weapons testing.  Thousands were sickened and died from the resultant radioactive fallout.  Take action right now to make sure we are not led down the same path of lies, government deception, and cover-ups.  No more mushroom clouds, nuclear or not!

Last week, over 500 people in St. George and Salt Lake attended open house "tellings" held by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA).  These forums limited the public’s ability to comment on the proposed test, with some in attendance even being forcibly removed for voicing their concerns.

In contrast, the public hearings held this week and next by the Utah Department of Environmental Quality will allow residents to voice any concerns they have about the test.  These comments will then be included with the Governor's letter to DTRA opposing the test.  Please take this only public opportunity to voice your concerns about this test.

For more information contact HEAL Utah at: (801) 355-5055, info@healutah.org, or visit us at www.healutah.org.