-Caveat Lector- Environmental, public interest groups sue government over missile defense plans By JOHN HEILPRIN, Associated Press WASHINGTON (August 28, 2001 12:58 p.m. EDT) - Worried about the potential dangers of missile defense testing on the West Coast, a coalition of environmental and public interest groups sued the Defense Department in federal court Tuesday demanding a fresh round of environmental studies. The Pentagon has been planning to start construction early next year. If the Defense Department does not agree to a new study, the Natural Resources Defense Council plans to ask the federal judge for an injunction to require the study in advance of any construction, said NRDC senior researcher Christopher Paine. The new study could take from six to 18 months and could affect the administration's plans to withdraw from the 1972 Antiballistic Missile Treaty, he said. The groups contend in a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court here that the 1969 National Environmental Policy Act requires the Pentagon to conduct new studies of the effects that the proposed Star Wars test range would have on the Pacific Ocean region between Alaska, Hawaii, California and the Marshall Islands. A new supplemental environmental impact study on the Pentagon's missile defense program and a second, more specific study on how the program would affect localities are required, the groups say. That is because the testing would have a significant environmental impact and the previous studies in 1994 and 2000 were for old programs that the Bush administration replaced with a new proposal and testing schedule, they say. The administration proposal includes plans for an emergency anti-missile system with five missile silos operating from Fort Greely near Fairbanks, Alaska, by 2004. "By its own admission, the Bush administration has radically revised the missile defense program," said David Adelman, a senior attorney for NRDC. "It can't do that without reassessing the potential environmental damage and providing for public comment. Otherwise, it's breaking the law." Along with the NRDC, groups filing suit were Physicians for Social Responsibility, Greenpeace USA, Alaska Action Center, Alaska Community Action on Toxics, Alaska Public Interest Research Group, Kodiak Rocket Launch Information Group, and No Nukes North: Alaskan and Circumpolar Coalition Against Missile Defense. Melanie Duchin, an Anchorage activist with Greenpeace, said the proposed testing is immoral as well as illegal. "Alaskans or anybody else who cares about the planet and the threat of a new nuclear arms race are not going to sit by while this administration threatens Alaska's environment with a program that endangers the entire world." A spokesman for the Pentagon's Ballistic Missile Defense Organization could not immediately be reached for comment Tuesday. Steve Wingate, Webmaster ANOMALOUS IMAGES AND UFO FILES http://www.anomalous-images.com <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
