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A group of Utah activists worry that an anti-terrorism bill President
Clinton signed Wednesday could put Utahns in more danger - not less -
from chemical and germ weapons.
Downwinders make that claim because the bill includes an amendment by
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, to study building a mock city, probably at
Utah's Dugway Proving Ground, where officials could research and
practice defending against chemical and germ weapons attacks.
"We're worried that things could get out of hand out there," said
Steve Erickson, spokesman for Downwinders, a group that has fought to
help disclose past government testing in the West that may have
endangered downwind civilians.
The mock city Hatch envisions would have homes, office buildings and
even a working subway system he says would allow better research with
chemical and germ defenses and allow training of civilian officials on
how to handle such attacks.
But Erickson said he worries about Dugway's track record. Deseret News
probes showed Dugway spread nearly 500,000 pounds of nerve agent to
the wind in decades of tests - and conducted 328 open-air germ warfare
tests, 74 open-air tests of radiological weapons and even eight
intentional meltdowns of small nuclear reactors.
"We worry about anything that broadens its ability to spread chemicals
and nasty germs," he said.
"If the study justifies this foolishness, we'll try to stop any actual
construction through the appropriations process," Erickson added.
He also called for the study to be conducted with public participation
- and for any eventual mock city to have full environmental review
with public hearings.
"This is certainly something we don't want to leave to back-room
political deals and our trusted people at Dugway," he said.
He added that he wonders about program costs. "We can't believe that
Dugway's mock city may have a subway system and we're having trouble
getting money for light rail for the Olympics in Salt Lake City."
Hatch's amendment does not specifically say the mock city should be at
Dugway. But his aides say Dugway is the only place in the nation with
the necessary environmental permits, remoteness and support
facilities.
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