700-ton blast now held-up in Las Vegas federal court
Thanks to some unusual bedfellows, Southern Nevadan’s may be able to breath easier.
According to an article in today’s Review-Journal the Western Shoshone tribe and a group of Utah downwinders filed a lawsuit in Las Vegas federal court yesterday to prevent the 700-ton explosion scheduled for June 2 at the Nevada Test Site.
And just where are the many Southern Nevada organizations and attorneys working to protect us?
The group is represented by Reno attorney Robert Hager who said he is confident the court will issue a restraining order to block the explosion. “I believe, based on the violations of the National Environmental Policy Act alone, the court will be required to enjoin the Defense Department from following through with this scheduled blast,” Hagar said.
The planned experiment includes 700 tons of ammonium nitrate fuel oil solution in a 30-foot pit dug above one of the test site’s tunnels about 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
The United Nations ruled in March that the Western Shoshones are the rightful owners of 60 million acres that includes the Nevada Test Site. (Read about the Western Shoshone Defense Project.)
According to Nevada Test Site spokesman, Darwin Morgan, “As stated in the environmental assessment, there are no contaminant soils in the area of the experiment. The explosion would simply bring into the atmosphere dust.”
That’s right, Darwin. It’s pretty simple. Let’s load the air with billions of dust particles, and of course no contaminants; wink, wink.
And let’s give everyone within several hundred miles of the explosion the day off work so they can stay inside with dust masks on.
