KEEP UTAH SAFE FROM NUKES
"As Republican Senate candidates Lee and Bridgewater cavalierly endorse resumed nuclear testing, let's be clear: Nuclear testing has left Utah a legacy of lies, betrayal, illness and death. It is both unsafe and unnecessary. Utah has been safe from nuclear testing since 1992, and we're committed to keeping our air, water, land and families safe. In an age of reduced nuclear arsenals, no Utahn should suffer or die to re-prove the universally accepted fact that nuclear weapons are devastatingly powerful."
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Rep. Jim Matheson slams GOP candidates for supporting nuclear weapons testing
SALT LAKE CITY — Democratic Rep. Jim Matheson, who's facing his first primary challenge, is slamming the two GOP Senate candidates for supporting nuclear weapons testing.
Matheson is holding a press conference Monday with representatives of the cancer victims downwind of the nuclear tests done in Nevada in the 1950s and 1960s to denounce the stand taken by Tim Bridgewater and Mike Lee.
Both Bridgewater and Lee have signed onto a national "Peace Through Strength" platform that backs "a safe, reliable effective nuclear deterrent, which requires its modernization and testing" to defend the country.
Matheson, though, said the nuclear testing done until 1992 has left a tragic legacy for Utahns, "one of lies and betrayal, illness and death." His own father, the late Gov. Scott Matheson, died of cancer believed to be the result of exposure to radioactive fallout from the tests.
"By standing united against the unsafe, unnecessary policy of nuclear testing, Utahns have won some important battles. We're ready for this new fight," Matheson said in a statement.
Lee and Bridgewater support N-weapons testing
GOP Senate candidates support idea if it would modernize nation's stockpile.
Both Republican Senate candidates say they would support a resumption of underground nuclear weapons tests, presumably in Nevada, to help modernize the nation's weapons stockpile.
Mike Lee signed a "Peace Through Strength" pledge Monday, crafted by a handful of national security organizations. The pledge consists of several defense policy positions, including protecting national sovereignty, not trying enemy combatants in U.S. courts, energy security and the modernization and testing of the U.S. nuclear arsenal.
"We need to always have our eye on the ball for developing new weapons systems and that is going to require new testing," Lee said in an interview with The Salt Lake Tribune .