From the Office of Utah Congressman Jim Matheson

MATHESON NEWS
Second Congressional District

For Further Information
Alyson Heyrend: (801) 455-5593 (cell)
www.house.gov/matheson

August 1, 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Matheson Applauds Further Postponement of Divine Strake

Still Awaits Answers to Health, Safety Questions

Salt Lake City, UT-Congressman Jim Matheson said today he is pleased with the announcement that the so-called "Divine Strake" non-nuclear explosion-planned for the Nevada Test Site-has been postponed yet again.  The Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) announced today that the "earliest point at which Divine Strake can be conducted would be several months into 2007".

Matheson, after reading Defense Department budget documents this spring, wrote to DTRA, expressing concerns about both the actual purpose and the health and safety ramifications of the planned 700-ton conventional explosives detonation at the desert test site 65 miles north of Las Vegas.

"This is the second postponement announced by DTRA. The government has yet to provide environmental data regarding what the health risks are to communities downwind of the explosion. Absent that data, I think the postponement and announced intention to gather more information is tacit acknowledgement that uncertainty remains," said Matheson.

Matheson said that officials have confirmed that one purpose of the test is to validate modeling codes for designing a nuclear weapon.  The Divine Strake blast will be detonated in a shallow pit dug above an underground concrete tunnel.  The site is about a mile from an area where six underground nuclear bombs were exploded in the early 1970s.

Matheson said he shares Utahns skepticism when the government says testing is "safe", given the past history of government deception surrounding nuclear weapons testing in Nevada.

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Alyson Heyrend
Communications Director
240 East Morris Ave. #235
South Salt Lake, UT 84115
(801) 486-1236 (phone)
(801) 455-5593 (cell)
(801) 486-1417 (fax)