Contact: Mateo Ferreira (202) 310-2745
Shoshone Chief asks Clinton to halt Nuclear Test Report
Chief Raymond Yowell, Chief of the Western Shoshone
National Council, whose ancestral lands include the Nevada
Nuclear Test Site, called on President Clinton to halt the
Administration's steps to resume nuclear testing.
Chief Yowell was saddened to read in the New York Times
(May 15, 1993) that Clinton is expected to order renewal of
nuclear tests. "Why continue the contamination of Mother
Earth when everyone knows that there is no need for the
continuation of nuclear testing?" The Western Shoshone
consider the earth to be a living being.
In order to resume testing this year, the White House must
notify Congress by May 18, 1993. The New York Times
states that the White House, responding to pressure from
Departments of State, Defense, and Energy, is expected to
submit the report.
Chief Yowell supports efforts of the Department of Energy to
create jobs cleaning up, as best we can, fifty years of
radioactive contamination of the sacred lands.
Chief Yowell is coming to Washington, D.C. on May 20,
1993 to meet with Administration officials and is available to
meet with the press.