AUT: URANIUM BOMB TEST IN ALASKA - Part I (fwd)

["Harry M. Cleaver" <hmcleave@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 12 Feb 1998 07:04:26 -1000
From: kekula@xxxxxxxxx
Reply-To: warriornet@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
To: WarriorNET@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: URANIUM BOMB TEST IN ALASKA - Part I

Brothers and Sisters, I'm sorry not to have the time to type in this full
report likely for another 34 hours that came from ACAT a greempeace project
in Alaska.

Contact info is: Pamela Miller, Project Director and Researcher and Janet
Daniels is the Education and Outreach Coordinator.  You can contact them at
(907) 222-7714 or acat@xxxxxxxxx  I understand there was an Indigenous
meeting last night and waiting for reports.  Someone else may have more on
this, please post if so.

Andrea Carmen faxed this to us from the IITC Alaska office. That number is:
(907) 745-4482 or iitcak@xxxxxxxxxxxxx

We look forward to formal complaints on behalf of the rights of Indigenous
Peoples and that they represent.

Peace,
~k

Just say "NO!"
to the Military's Proposed Uranium Bomb Test in Alaska

The Air Force proposes test of earth-=penetrating B61-11 nuclear bomb

Please join us in opposing the proliferation of nuclear weapons
and nuclear weapons testing in Alaska

Public comments due February 14

The Air Force is proposing to conduct a uranium bomb test 35 miles
southeast of Fairbanks within the Stuart Creek watershed in Fort
Wainwright's Yukon Maneuver Area on March 11, 1998.  The test will
determine whether the bomb can effectively  "withstand penetration into
permafrost soils." 1  The Air Force will use up to 165 pounds of "depleted
uranium" (DU) in each of two bombs.  Depleted uranium is both a toxic and
radioactive material.


The Air Force claims that the bombs are only  "innert mock-ups" of the
B61-11 earth penetrating nuclear bomb, designed to explode and destroy
enemies hidden in underground fortresses.  The fact is that depleted
uranium weaponry is dangerous and deadly to our own troops, as well as
citizens throughout the world where the uranium is mined, processed, and
where weapons are produced, tested, and used on the battlefield.  The Air
Force is "testing" these bombs on Alaska  and Alaskans-- they don't know if
they are safe!  The  Army  admits "if DU enters the body, it has the
potential to generate significant medical consequences.  The risks
associated with DU in the body are both chemical and radiological..."2
There  is no safe use of depleted uranium weapons!

____________________________________________
Please write a letter opposing the uranium bomb test in Alaska.  Demand
that the Air Force be required to conduct a full Environmental Impact
Statement as required under the National Environmental Policy Act.
____________________________________________

Points to raise in your letter:

* The Air Force refuses to acknowledge the potential environmental and
human health impacts from the uranium bomb test

Although the Air Force claims that its uranium bomb test will be safe, they
acknowledge that this is a "test" of the weapon's ability to withstand
impact within a frozen, permafrost environment.  They claim that 24 "drops"
of the test weapon have been conducted without containment failure.  If the
steel casing were to rupture, uranium particles could be distributed
downwind of the impact area.  DU particles distributed into the air from
the impact or resultant fire can be carried downwind for 25 miles or more.
(3) Once inhaled, depleted uranium can lodge in lung tissue, releasing
alpha radiation.  This can cause lung cancer.  Uranium is also a chemical
poison if ingested or inhaled, and can cause irreparable kidney damage.
The impact area is less than 25 miles from residential, subsistence hunting
and fishing, and recreational areas.

Even if the steel casing of the bombs did not release its toxic and
radioactive load of uranium, the Air Force will still destroy nearly 5
acres of black spruce wetlands.  They propose to denude the area of
vegetation, and excavate to recover the bombs which will penetrate the
earth to a depth of 20 feet.  They refuse to even replant the area of
destruction.  The excavation would increase mechanical and thermal erosion
in a fragile zone of permafrost.  The Air Force admits that no studies of
the wildlife or cultural resources have been done within the Stuart Creek
impact area.  This area is a prime moose calving area, and home to black
and grizzly bear, wolf, martin, lynx, red fox and snowshoe hare.


____________________________________________________
  "Found Paradise Inside of Everything!"
        >>><<<>>><<<>>><<<>>><<<
                 KU`E
            - r e s i s t -

Ku`E is the name of a 1997 CD from an Indigenous Youth HipHop Band.  "Found
Paradise Inside of Everything" is a line from a song about Hawaiian
Independence with voice excerpts from the 1993 International Tribunal in
Hawai`i.

   http://www.nahenahe.net/sudden_rush
_____________________________________________________
Kekula P. Bray-Crawford - mailto:kekula@xxxxxxxxx
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