Divine Strake Hearing Planned for Tonight

John Hollenhorst Reporting Wasatch Front residents will finally get a chance to sound off in public tonight about plans for a tremendous explosion in Nevada. That military test has stirred fierce opposition from Utah Downwinders.

Governor Huntsman will kick off the hearing at 5:30. And the very fact that there is an actual public hearing is a tactical victory for the Downwinders.

The federal agencies planning the explosion at the Nevada Test Site refused to have public hearings. Instead they held open-house style informational meetings that were denounced as propaganda by critics. The test explosion will be non-nuclear, with 700 tons of explosives, one of the biggest conventional blasts ever aimed at learning how to attack deeply buried enemy bunkers.

Critics worry the blast will kick up radioactive dust left over from the era of nuclear testing, and they claim it may set the stage for future atomic blasts.

Opponents were frustrated by their inability to speak out against the project in a public forum, so the Governor called his own hearings

Christopher Thomas, H.E.A.L. Utah: "Governor Huntsman did what the federal government failed to do. He is giving Utahns an opportunity and a real forum to express their concerns...to have a forum where security guards aren't going to appear and start taking somebody out of the room who's making a comment that everybody else can hear."

The federal agencies say there's no significant risk because there's only negligible radioactive material at the test site. But there's strong opposition in Utah. The federal government seems to be paying a price in credibility because of atomic testing a generation or two ago.

The federal agencies have pretty well staked out what they want to do and whether public opinion will deter their plans is unknown. But they are required to go through some kind of public process before they can make their decision.

Tonight a public hearing about a proposed non-nuclear blast will be held at the State Capitol Complex.

DIVINE STRAKE HEARING
5:30- 8:30 PM
State Capitol Complex
West Building, Rm. 135
Salt Lake City

You can voice your opinion tonight from 5:30 till 8:30.

If you can't attend and are interested in listening to the hearings, visit the link on our website and click on the "listen live" link.

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