A Divine Strake victory

Last week's announcement that the federal government was calling off its Divine Strake bomb explosion in southern Nevada was the first indication the government actually was listening to the people of Utah. An earlier government "hearing" on the matter was more of an explanation session, with no one interested in what real people had to say. It took Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. to organize a real hearing and send public comments to the government.

Which is why last week's decision was such a surprise — and such a reason to celebrate.

Opposition to Divine Strake was never really a question of science. Plenty of scientists were available to argue both sides of the case — that the explosion of 700 tons of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil on a site that might be contaminated with radioactivity was either a hazard or completely safe.

This was, from the beginning, a question of whether people who once were brutally victimized should be subject to something that even resembles the same sort of treatment again.

The government lied in the mid-20th century. It said above-ground nuclear tests in Nevada were completely safe. A lot of Utahns suffered horrible cancers and deaths as a result. And even though Congress approved reparations to many of those victims, the government should know better than to return to the same site and unleash a mushroom cloud that it insists would be safe.

Now the government's Defense Threat Reduction Agency says it will use alternative methods to study whether large-scale testing is needed, and it will try some small-scale tests.

We're sympathetic to the need for the Divine Strake technology. The bomb was designed as a way to penetrate underground fortifications that could be used to protect important enemies, such as leaders of rogue countries or terrorists. For centuries, such people have sought refuge in bunkers. Saddam Hussein, Slobodan Milosevic and Adolf Hitler are prominent recent examples.

But we're confident the government can find ways to develop such a bomb without arousing the suspicions of Utahns who already have been deceived once.

The Divine Strake cancellation was, as the governor said, a victory for the people of Utah who spoke loudly against it. It also was a victory for the state's congressional delegation and Huntsman himself. All of them spoke with a united voice, so loud they could be heard all the way in Washington.

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