Earth Day Defiled!

On April 22 the Washington Department of Natural Resources (DNR) will auction off 1,026 acres of state lands to logging companies. Perhaps the DNR is date-impaired, but April 22nd is Earth Day. Even though the ecofreaks at Stump Talk believe that every day should be Earth Day and that public lands should not be devastated by logging, mining or grazing, it seems that the DNR is giving mother earth a slap in the face as a present on Earth Day.

Usually Earth Day is a time to give back to the earth, to take steps to heal the wounds we have created, and to reconnect with this planet that gives us everything we need. Earth Day is when children learn what needs to be done to heal and restore the streams, lakes, oceans, and the forests. Earth Day is when we plant trees, clean creeks, pick up litter, and celebrate the earth.

The DNR will auction off five timber sales in Ellensburg and five timber sales in Enumclaw. Three of the sales being auctioned off in Enumclaw are in King County. These three sales total 267 acres of douglas fir, hemlock, alder, cedar, cottonwood, and maple. The auctions will take place from 10 am to 4 pm. The DNR is being the Scrooge of Earth Day. If the selling of our forests disgusts you, let DNR know. Call them at 360-902-1340 or write them at Department of Natural Resources, Forest Resources Division, PO Box 47016, Olympia, WA 98504.

Nevada Test Site Continues To Go [sub]Critical

The Department of Energy (DOE) has exploded plutonium with chemical explosives three times now at the Nevada Test Site (NTS). "Rebound" was the first "subcritical" nuclear test conducted since the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty was signed (subcritical because no nuclear chain reaction was produced by the explosion). "Holog" was the second. "Stagecoach," the third subcritical test, went off March 25th.

This open-ended series of nuclear tests, designed to produce new nuclear weapons, is just one small part of the DOE's ten-year, $40 billion nuclear weapons Stockpile Stewardship and Management program. The current plan is for four tests a year for the next 10 years. The first subcritical explosion cost well over $100 million. Each subcritical test will cost about $20 million, and the price tag is expected to rise.

In a subcritical test, high explosives are used to drive stainless steel plates into plutonium to shock the plutonium and measure the effects. In spite of DOE's lack of environmental concerns, two government scientists reported in September 1997 that plutonium had contaminated ground water from a below-ground nuclear test conducted more than 28 years ago (the Benham test), and it had traveled nearly a mile through ground water layers at the NTS. Plutonium was detected in a monitoring well eight-tenths of a mile south of the Benham test site, in the northwest part of the NTS. The levels were less than half the 4-millirem-per-year dose allowed for drinking water, the scientists said, but according to Annie Kersting, a chemist from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, it is the first time plutonium has been detected in the ground water.

In response to the subcritical nuclear weapons test, anti-nuclear activists have gathered several times at the NTS for action training, workshops, nonviolence and peacekeeper training, talks and videos, and direct action to shut the NTS down. The events have been hosted by the Shundahai Network, Healing Global Wounds, Nevada Desert Experience and the Council of Women to End the Nuclear Age. Hundreds of people from across the United states and many countries around the world have attended the gatherings near Mercury, Nevada, the town located on the NTS. Here is a list of upcoming events to protest subcritical tests: April 1-10, Walk from Ward Valley to NTS; April 5-10, Nevada Desert Experience Holy Week Walk from Las Vegas to NTS; April 7-9, Cactus Springs Goddess Temple, International Council Of Women to end the Nuclear Age; April 10-13, Healing Global Wounds Spring Gathering at the NTS; April 13, Nonviolent Occupation and Prayer Circle at the entrance to the NTS; April 19-22, Survivors of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki will meet with Atomic Veterans, Native Americans and Las Vegas anti-nuclear activists; May 8-10 Western Shoshone Spring Gathering at Crescent Valley, NV.

You can help to stop the tests. Call President Clinton at 202-456-1111, call your representatives at 800-962-3524, and call Energy Secretary Federico Pena at 202-586-6210. Tell them to stop subcritical nuclear weapons testing, end the Stockpile Stewardship and Management program, and SHUT THE TEST SITE DOWN!! For more information, contact Shundahai Network at (702) 647-3095, email: shundahai@radix.net, website: http://www.shundahai.org/.

Stump Talk is put out every other week by a few ecofreaks. If you want to help or if you have comments leave a message for NW Forest Action Group at 206-632-2954 or email can@scn.org.