Who else could get away with it?

Nevada Test Site in the 1950's

Apparently the states of Nevada and Utah want assurances from the federal government about the health and safety implications of the upcoming above ground bomb test, which by the way, will be the largest man-made explosion of all time. Now just what kind of whacked out paperwork routine are the old boys in DC gonna foist upon us this time? Are they about to tell us that this is perfectly safe and not to worry one little bit?

Would a private landowner, who owns similarly vast & empty acreage in say Montana or Texas, ever be given permission by the government to undertake the same type of thing on their property? Could any private citizen pollute the atmosphere this extensively and ever hope to escape the full wrath of the federal officials in charge of "protecting" the environment? You know the answer.

By the way, it would be nice to see the superintendents of our Utah national parks have the intestinal fortitude to speak out on this issue. The NPS is always attempting to eliminate so-called "threats" to their parks such as the noise made by aircraft, night-sky light pollution and the ravages of tour guides, but have been conspicuously silent about a bomb cloud potentially full of radioactive particles settling down onto their parks in June when there will be many visitors and the maximum number of seasonal staff.

I know I'm asking a lot when I demand courage from bureaucrats in peonage to lavish federal retirement plans but it makes you all look pretty ridiculous, as guardians of the environment, to have, so far, ignored this very obvious danger to biologic life. The menacing specter of non-native weeds and the fate of the Virgin River spinedace (a "threatened" minnow species) will just have to wait for another time, because the day of reckoning is upon us.

Nero he did fiddle on.