Cold War monuments sought for local sites

Suzanne Struglinski

Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2003 | 9:25 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- An area of Mount Charleston and the Nevada Test Site may get designated national historic landmarks if the House follows the Senate's lead.

The Senate, by unanimous consent, passed a bill introduced by Sens. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and John Ensign, R-Nev., that calls for a study of areas "for commemorating and interpreting the Cold War." The bill passed Monday.

The senators introduced the bill in February authorizing $300,000 for a National Historic Landmark study by the Interior Department, Energy Department and Defense Department along with state historic preservation offices and other local groups.

The bill said the study should include nuclear weapons sites such as the Nevada Test Site and other areas that developed resources used during the Cold War. The departments would have three years to work on the study before submitting it to Congress.

"Perhaps no other state in the union has played a more significant role than Nevada in winning the Cold War," Reid said at the bill's introduction, noting the contributions of the Nevada Test Site, the Naval Air Station in Fallon and the Air Warfare Center at Nellis Air Force Base.

He also called attention to the Mount Charleston site of a 1955 plane crash as a prime example of the type of place that needs to be recognized. The crash killed 14 scientists and technical personnel who were headed to build a spy plane at the then-secret Area 51.

It also calls for the Interior Department to publish a handbook on the Cold War.

A similar bill in the House, co-sponsored by Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., still needs to move through committee before it would go to the floor.