Many homes in Los Alamos have already been destroyed and 11,000 people have been evacuated. The fire has also now entered the Indian lands of Santa Clara Canyon.

And it threatens the Los Alamos National Laboratory--one of the plants used to manufacture the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. The fire has come within 50 feet of Area 55 of the Los Alamos Nuclear Research Facility where plutonium, one of the most deadly radioactive substances known to humanity, is stored.

According to ABC news, tests after the fire started have shown "there is slightly more radiation in the ground water." If one looks at a map outlining the path of the fire, it is right on the border of the nuclear plant.

According to the lead story of the May 14 Los Alamos Monitor, "Speaking in front of the razor wire-topped gate leading into the facility, federal and local officials repeatedly insisted that no radiation was released because of the fires."

The Monitor reported that two busloads of reporters were taken to "the lab's most sensitive areas to show that facilities handling plutonium, uranium and other hazardous materials haven't been harmed. 'I'd go downwind in a heartbeat and live there the rest of my life. That's my confidence level' in the area's safety, said Gen. Eugene Habinger, security and emergency response supervisor for the U.S. Department of Energy."

Janet Post
Brooklyn, New York  
 
Solidarity for Steelworkers
At a rally of more than 100 Steelworkers in front of Boeing's corporate headquarters on April 26 to protest Boeing's use of aluminum made by Kaiser, United Airlines pilot Dave Zapp gave greetings on behalf of the Air Line Pilots Association. The pilots union recently approved a resolution supporting the locked-out Kaiser Steelworkers and their campaign against Boeing's use of aluminum from Kaiser produced during the lockout for production of commercial jetliners.

Also submitted to Boeing management were 15,000 postcards that have been collected from unionists telling Boeing to stop using Kaiser metal until a fair contract is signed.

Two days later 1,000 Steelworkers rallied in Spokane, Washington, where they heard David Foster, the chief negotiator of the Steelworkers union, explain how two recent rulings by the National Labor Relations Board would put pressure on Kaiser to settle the lockout.

John Naubert
Seattle, Washington  
 
Appreciates recent articles
I'm very grateful for the obvious time and hard work that went into the articles in the last two issues of the Militant [around the immigration police raid in Miami]. After studying them, I feel on much firmer ground whenever the subject comes up for discussion.

Sue Fitzsimmons
Auburn, New York 
 

The letters column is an open forum for different viewpoints on subjects of interest to working people. Please keep your letters brief. Where necessary they will be abridged. Please indicate if you prefer that your initials be used rather than your full name.  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home