Feb. 11, 2007 - "Bomb blast" 

To the editor: Las Vegas Review Journal

Recently, Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman - a Republican - declared he was headed to Washington to lobby against Divine Strake, a 700-ton fertilizer and fuel oil explosion planned for the Nevada Test Site. Other Utah leaders - including the mayor of Salt Lake City, officials in four Utah counties and the entire Utah Legislature - all oppose the blast that will re-suspend, in the atmosphere, radioactive particles from historic atomic tests.

"Because of the potential threat to life, health and safety [we] oppose the Divine Strake test," reads one resolution.

Additionally, the congressional delegations of Idaho and Utah have been proactively informing the public or even opposing the test.

And in Nevada? The silence is deafening.

Instead of aggressively lobbying for public safety, Gov. Jim Gibbons reacted to a recent protest with the vacuous statement: "Weapons testing is critical ... however, we [must] ensure ... the [government] is taking all necessary precautions to ensure the safety of Nevadans."

So, what do you plan to do, governor? Anything? What about you, Sens. John Ensign and Harry Reid? Or you, Reps. Shelley Berkley, Dean Heller and Jon Porter?

As one letter writer in Utah asks: "I don't want these radioactive elements blown 10,000 feet into the atmosphere above my house. Do you?"

BOB TREGILUS, RENO