Strake opponents fear smaller blasts

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A government lawyer told a federal judge Friday she'll seek dismissal of the lawsuit that blocked plans for a non-nuclear explosion that would have sent a mushroom-shaped dust cloud high over the Nevada desert.

A lawyer representing an American Indian tribe and "downwinders" in Utah and Nevada who sued to stop the "Divine Strake" blast said opponents of the test fear the government will simply scale down plans and mount smaller experiments.

U.S. District Judge Lloyd George kept the case open, and set a status hearing for April 30.

"There simply are no proposed actions in the works" at the Nevada Test Site or elsewhere, Justice Department lawyer Caroline Blanco, in Washington, D.C., told the judge during a conference call.

The federal government last week canceled the 700-ton test explosion at the test site. Defense Threat Reduction Agency Director James Tegnelia said in a statement that the agency would look at alternative methods to gather data about penetrating underground bunkers.

Robert Hager, a Reno lawyer representing Western Shoshone tribe members and others, said opponents worry that smaller explosions would still scatter decades-old radioactive material from Cold War-era tests at the nuclear weapons proving ground, 85 miles northwest of Las Vegas.