Editorial: It’s a victory - for now

Sunday, Feb. 25, 2007 | 7:22 a.m.

We are glad that Pentagon officials finally have canceled Divine Strake, a non-nuclear explosion at the Nevada Test Site that thousands of residents feared would kick up radioactive dust from Cold War-era nuclear bomb tests.

James Tegnelia, director of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, which was to conduct the test, said Thursday that he has "become convinced that it's time to look at alternative methods" that avoid detonation of 700 tons of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil in the agency's search for a so-called "bunker-busting" bomb. Such an explosive is needed to demolish underground bunkers of enemy forces that are used to house weapons stockpiles and military headquarters, agency officials have said.

But this particular test was a bad idea. Originally scheduled for last June, Divine Strake was postponed after residents and members of congressional delegations in Nevada and Utah demanded to know more about the explosion's environmental effects - namely, its potential for releasing radioactive soil from the Test Site's nuclear bomb tests of the 1950s and '60s.

A group of downwinders - so-called because they or their relatives contracted cancer or other illnesses after living in Nevada and Utah communities that were downwind of the Cold War-era tests - filed a lawsuit. Lawmakers from both states called for better environmental data. Mistrust abounded because this is the same federal government that for decades had downplayed, and in many cases denied, that the old nuclear tests had posed risk of radiation exposure.

The National Nuclear Security Administration, which operates the Test Site, considered a 1996 environmental impact study sufficient for determining that Divine Strake posed no significant health risks. They simply ignored the fact that thousands more people now live in close proximity to the Test Site in Nevada and Utah.

In January, federal officials grudgingly sought public input through a series of meetings in the two states. Not surprisingly, the meetings brought forth highly vocal opponents. The Pentagon was to review the information gathered at these meetings and render a decision in March. Evidently, it reached its decision sooner.

Still, we are guarded in our optimism. Pentagon officials seem entirely too willing to just give up on a test that, until Thursday, they said was absolutely, positively necessary. Federal officials also said that potential harm to workers, the public or the environment were not their reasons for the cancellation. Could Pentagon officials be figuring that the political environment will one day be more favorable for Divine Strake if they wait long enough?

We hope not. But it takes a fair amount of trust to believe that this is truly the end of this issue. And when it comes to being honest about the actual risks of bomb tests conducted in Nevada's desert, the federal government has not shown itself to be trustworthy.