Feb. 7, 2007, Rep. Jim Matheson's (Utah) official comments on the Environmental Assessment; his office's press release 

Excerpts from Matheson's comments:

Re: Alternative Locations:  'The Divine Strake EA does not present alternative courses of action ...The National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 clearly requires that federal agencies must fully consider available options prior to a determination of course...'

Re: Affected Environment: '...several nuclear tests did in fact send fallout in directions other than downwind.  Radiation fallout maps listed in the May 1979 Defense Nuclear Agency report called the "Analysis of Radiation Exposure for Task Force Warrior Shot Smoky" show tests in the Operation PLUMBBOB Series with fallout heading southwest, west and north of ground zero (Shot Wilson, Shot Coulomb B, etc.).  Therefore, the EA should acknowledge that soil in area 16 may indeed have radioactive fallout from previous atmospheric tests, in addition to the underground tests conducted at U16a...'  [go to page 87 in the report linked above; more Coulomb-B here]

Re: Radiation: '..the 26 soil samples taken by the NSO appear to only reflect data from a few inches below the surface (likely the distance a shovel would descend).  NNSA-NSO should also measure core samples at the site, particularly under and near the proposed detonation location...'  

Re: National Ambient Air Quality Standards: ' ...Standards governing particulate emissions, established by the Environmental Protection Agency in 1997, was 2.5 microns, not the 10 micron stand used by NNSA-NSO.  Experts...have said that smaller particles stay adrift in the air longer and may be more harmful to humans. Therefore, this EA should explain why the document uses a standard that omits data for smaller particles.'