Army tests ravaged family's land

She said she also wrote to Utah governors, the Environmental Protection Agency and other government agencies she thought would have an interest in cleaning up the area, especially neighboring state-owned school trust land sections that likely had been contaminated as well. She said none showed interest.

Louise said that during the trial, she said to a government lawyer that maybe the Cannon family should clean up the land itself, and keep the munitions they find. She said the government informed her that was not allowed because it owned the unexploded ordnance, and only the federal government could remove it. The lawyers also said they considered her suggestion "to be a threat against the United States."

Because she was frustrated, she said she would return any munitions found "in a yellow rental truck parked next to the federal building" (sounding like the Oklahoma City bombing). She said the lawyers also took that as a threat but didn't see leaving the old ordnance on Cannon land as a threat.

Weak actions

Douglas Cannon said Army representatives said in court that there are plans eventually to clean up the area. But the Army cannot do it until it receives funding from Congress, which likely is years away.

He said when the judge asked the Army if it would be interested in buying the land, "They said no because it is contaminated. That is ironic, because they contaminated it. They said they didn't have the budget to handle it," Douglas said.

Amid frustration, Louise said she once called the state to ask what would happen if she did not pay taxes on the contaminated land and let it revert to the government or if she simply deeded it over to the state.

"They said, 'We would sue you.' "

"I said, 'What?' They said, 'If you let property that you knew to be contaminated come back to the state, we would sue you to clean it up.' I said, 'You've got to be kidding. I didn't do this.' And they said, 'It doesn't matter,' " Louise said.

The Cannons said the only effort the Army made on their land was to post some signs warning that it is a Formerly Used Defensive Site, and that no one should pick up munitions they see.

Louise said the Army also accused her of stealing such signs that disappeared. But when the Army told her the signs had been made of wood, she said, "Anything made of wood out there disappears quickly. They have all theses campers, hikers and motorcyclists out there. They make little campfires. If you leave any wood out there unattended for 24 hours, it disappears," she said.

Louise said that on another occasion, the Army accused her of stealing an old chemical rocket booster that erosion had laid bare on Cannon property. It had been spotted by Army crews in the area.