Western Shoshone Receive Boost in Work to Keep Homeland Safe from Further Nuclear Contamination
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 27, 2006
During the First National Conference on Precaution, held in Baltimore, June 9th to 11th, the Western Shoshone National Council and affiliated Western Shoshone organizations: the Western Shoshone Defense Project and the Shundahai Network were honored with a “Pioneer of Precaution” award for decades-long opposition to prevent nuclear weapons testing and radioactive waste dumping within homelands, Newe Sogobia. Two Nevada organizations, Citizen Alert and the Nevada Nuclear Waste Task Force, working on nuclear issues were also recipients.
The award is a tremendous boost to collective efforts by the precautionary award winners along with the 40 other indigenous nations, environmental justice, peace and justice, anti-war and nuclear abolition organizations working to halt Divine Strake, a 700-ton explosion of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil would take place in an area of the Nevada Test Site (NTS) on Western Shoshone homeland near to where nuclear testing occurred. Originally Divine Strake was planned for June 2nd, postponed until June 23rd due to a court challenge, postponed again indefinitely, and now seems to be assigned a fall detonation date by projections of members of Nevada’s congressional delegation. With the exception of Representative Berkley, Nevada’s congresspersons have said they believe the test to be safe; even though the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection has not reached the same conclusion or issued a permit to the DOD.
Because it is estimated the explosion will create a plume extending 10,000 feet in the atmosphere, Western Shoshone, Nevadans and Utahans are rightly concerned about the lack of real soil samples from the Department of Defense to determine whether there is radioactive contamination in the soils surrounding the blast area. The data provided by the Defense Department was gathered primarily with radiation detection machines that give surface readings only.
Western Shoshone have historically been on the front lines of the U.S. nuclear weapon program. According to a survey and study by the Nuclear Risk Management for Native Communities, Western Shoshone bore the brunt of the Cold War nuclear weapon program receiving doses of radiation from 100 aboveground tests estimated to be six times that of other non- Indian downwind populations.”
Divine Strake is also a violation of Western Shoshone rights. On March 10th 2006, the Western Shoshone brought their case to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (UNCERD) with the support of the University of Arizona Indigenous Law and Policy Institute and the Western Shoshone Defense Project. The UNCERD found the U.S. to be in violation of recognized fundamental human rights standards and international law with regard to the Western Shoshone, and ordered the U.S. to “freeze”, “desist” and “stop” activities that threaten Western Shoshone lands. On month later, in flagrant denial to its duty as a member nation to UNCERD, the U.S. announced its decision to conduct the Divine Strake explosion.
“The presence of the U.S. military on Western Shoshone land is uninvited,” said Western Shoshone grandmother, leader and executive director of the Western Shoshone Defense Project, Carrie Dann. “For years, the Western Shoshone have fought for sovereignty over our ancestral and treaty-recognized lands, as well as for shutting down the Nevada Test Site where 928 nuclear tests were conducted.”
Nevada Representative Shelly Berkley and Utah’s congressional members have come out firmly and strongly for the protection of those living downwind of the NTS from the re-suspension of radioactive particles in the dust. They have also expressed concern for the implications of this test to U.S. nuclear weapon development and the potential for renewed testing in Nevada. Especially since, Divine Strake was described in the Pentagon’s budget as a planning tool “to improve warfighter’s confidence in selecting the smallest proper nuclear yield necessary to destroy underground facilities.” After the public began to raise questions about whether the U.S. was designing nuclear “bunker busters”, the Pentagon said the test was for conventional weapon purposes only; but critics question Divine Strake’s relevance to conventional weaponry. Fifty times the explosive power of the largest conventional weapon in the U.S. arsenal, Divine Strake would not be used as a conventional weapon because no plane could carry such a payload.
As Hans Kristensen with the Federation of American Scientists said, “It’s not a step toward nuclear testing. It is nuclear testing. It’s just nuclear testing the way it’s done today, since actual nuclear tests are banned by treaties.” As a simulation of a nuclear explosion tied to nuclear weapons work, it represents a reversal of the efforts of previous Administrations towards disarmament and non-proliferation. Despite landmark decisions and treaties in the last forty years in this direction, the Bush Administration in its 2002 Nuclear Posture Review is now paving the way for the development of a whole new generation of nuclear weapons. While funding for nuclear “bunker busters” was not approved, Congress repealed the 1994 ban on them to allow research. Furthermore, the Kyl amendment (4267) to the Defense Authorization Act (S.2766) questions the ongoing relevance of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, and asks the President to determine whether the U.S. is still bound by its provisions.
History has a way of repeating; but Western Shoshone leaders and worldwide supporters will not be silent. “There is nothing “divine” about a weapon’s test,” added Carrie Dann. “We decry all weapons of mass destruction as they are first tested upon us: and we oppose the use of these weapons against any other peoples or nations.” On May 28th, an action was held at the Nevada Test Site to oppose Divine Strake. Several hundred from indigenous nations, environmental justice, peace and justice, anti-war and nuclear abolition organizations attended; and 40 were arrested. In months to come, many more will be arrested to put America back on track with the resumption of its leadership role in non-proliferation and disarmament of nuclear weapons.