Utah lawmaker introduces bill to make weapons testing at NTS more difficult

Suzanne Struglinski

Friday, March 11, 2005 | 11:36 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- A Utah lawmaker introduced a bill today to make it harder for the government to resume weapons testing again at the Nevada Test Site.

By October 2006, the Energy Department is supposed to be ready to restart testing nuclear weapons at the Test Site, 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas, within 18 months of a presidential order to do so. It has requestd $25 million for that effort in the 2006 budget.

Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, introduced a bill Wednesday that calls for a review focusing on potential health, safety and environmental effects of new nuclear weapons testing before any new test could start. The bill would also require approval from Congress before tests could start as well as at least a week's public notice. The bill also calls for government and private monitoring of radiation levels and creates a group of universities that will study the health effects of radiation.

Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., signed on as a cosponsor. Sen. Robert Bennett, R-Utah, will introduce the same bill in the Senate.

"I remember my father telling me about how people in Southern Utah would watch the sky light up from the nuclear tests and how Utahns supported the program because they were strong patriots who believed in their country and trusted their government" Matheson said in a statement. "Many untimely deaths later, we've learned to be skeptical of the government's safety claims regarding this issue."

Matheson introduced the bill for the first time in 2004, after the department began requesting funds to get the Test Site ready for weapons work again. Without the bill, the testing could begin at the discretion of the Energy Secretary, according to Matheson's office.