Alert - Nuclear Weapons test

29 September 1999

Kia ora, we have just received confirmation from the US that the 'subcritical' nuclear weapons test 'Oboe' is now scheduled for detonation at the Nevada Test Site tomorrow, Thursday 30 September (US time). Below is an extract which came in last week which gives some information about this particular bomb test and the opposition to it.

Below the extract are contact details for people to whom you might express your indignation to about this test.

For more detailed information on 'sub-critical' nuclear weapons tests, check out the other alerts on our website.

Media release - Great Basin Groups Protest ‘Oboe’ Nuclear Weapons Test at the Nevada Test Site

States Charles F. Hilfenhouse of the Alliance of Atomic Veterans, a group of U.S. Veterans deliberately exposed to radiation during the above ground tests of the 1950’s and 60’s, This is the eighth in a series of weapons tests that continues to threaten the health of the American people, our environment, and ground water. Each year in September, a weapons test is cranked out before the fiscal year’s budget expires. Scheduling tests for political rather than scientific purposes is just one more reasons why these tests must be stopped.

More than eight out of ten Americans have clearly stated in a recent survey that they want the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty ratified, said David Buer, of the faith-based group Nevada Desert Experience. Since the U.S. began the subcritical testing program in 1996, the four year world-wide moratorium on testing has been shattered with tests by other nations as well. Now a number of world powers are following the U.S. lead with new testing facilities and nuclear weapons programs. The U.S. government needs to listen to its voters, 82% of them, and lead the world toward peace, not nuclear annihilation.

" This test moves us into the 23rd year of nuclear war on the Western Shoshone people ", noted Jennifer O. Viereck, Coordinator of the Healing Global Wounds Alliance, a coalition which organizes events at the Nevada Test Site several times a year. Lands for the Test Site were taken from the Shoshone in 1948 without their consent. They are the most bombed nation on earth, with over 1,000 nuclear bombs detonated on their traditional lands, guaranteed to them in the Ruby Valley Treaty of 1863. The health effects on Native peoples who continue to hunt game and harvest medicinal plants have been far more devastating than on others living in the same areas. But with these test going on directly over our water supply, the federal government is destroying the future of all of our children and our communities.

1) People to express your indignation to in Aotearoa / New Zealand :

a) Contact the US ambassador - Josiah Beeman, US Embassy, PO Box 1190, Wellington; tel (04) 472 2068; fax (04) 471 2380 or 472 9804,

b) Contact Jenny Shipley and/or Don McKinnon and ask them to contact the US ambassador to ask his government to stop the test / register the NZ government's disapproval of it - Prime Minister's office tel (04) 471 9998; fax (04) 473 7045; Don McKinnon's office tel 471 9999; fax 471 1444, foreign.affairs@ministers.govt.nz or write to them at Parliament Buildings, Wellington (no stamp needed).

You could also point out that if this nuclear weapons test is detonated, you expect to see the US ambassador summoned to the Beehive as was the Indian ambassador when India tested last year ... and perhaps the recalling of the NZ ambassador from Washington ?

c) Contact your local MP and ask them to contact Jenny Shipley, Don McKinnon and the US ambassador.

2) People to express your indignation to in the US :

a) President Bill Clinton, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, Washington DC 20001,United States of America. Tel 00-1-202-456-1111 (the Clinton comment line) or -1414; fax 00-1-202-456-2461 or -2883.

b) Dept of Energy (who conduct the tests) - you can send email messages to Scammelld@nv.doe.gov

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