Nevada activists seek hearings on Strake

RENO, Nev. — A group of Nevada activists is pressing Gov. Jim Gibbons to request an environmental impact statement and public hearings on the federal government's plans for a 700-ton explosion on the Nevada desert.

Activists said they're puzzled that members of Nevada's congressional delegation have recently been silent on the issue, while top elected officials in Utah and Idaho have pressed for public hearings.

More than 2 dozen activists marched a mile Saturday in Carson City from the Legislative Building to the Governor's Mansion, where they held a news conference to express concerns over the planned non-nuclear explosion, called "Divine Strake," at the Nevada Test Site.

The event was sponsored by "No New Mushroom Clouds Over Nevada, Or Anywhere!," a coalition of such groups as the Reno Anti-War Coalition, the Sierra Interfaith Action for Peace and the Western Shoshone Defense Project.

"We don't think it's right that our new governor has been silent on the issue," said Lee Dazey, an event organizer.

Before leaving office, former Gov. Kenny Guinn asked for a supplemental EIS on the test that would require public hearings. Gibbons' communications director Brent Boynton did not return phone calls seeking comment Saturday.

The "Divine Strake" explosion, first scheduled for June 2006, was postponed indefinitely after Western Shoshone tribe members filed suit.

Critics fear radioactive material from decades of previous weapons tests will be loosened by the blast and scattered across Nevada and southern Utah. They call it a step toward developing "bunker buster" nuclear weapons.