Between the Lines

Time to End Project ELF

In the Chequamegon National Forest of northwestern Wisconsin, a 15-mile-long antenna in the shape of a giant cross stands as a vivid reminder that the threat of nuclear weapons has outlasted the Cold War that spawned their existence.

The antenna - and another like it on Michigan's Upper Peninsula - is a transmitter that sends extremely low frequency (ELF) radio messages to U.S. nuclear submarines patrolling under the oceans. The ELF system, designed as the trigger of a first-strike attack, was justified by the Reagan and Bush administrations as a response to the "Soviet threat." Now, activists say, it is time to end Project ELF.

"With the end of the Warsaw Pact and the collapse of the Soviet Union, there is no possible perceived need for Trident submarines," wrote John LaForge, a board member of the peace organization Nukewatch and a member of the Anathoth Community in Luck, Wisconsin. "And there is no reason to operate Project ELF."

New research from Sweden released in November found that exposure to electromagnetic fields - such as that associated with the ELF facility, as well as that from regular power lines - is linked to higher rates of leukemia, especially among children. "We believe that there's a real strong case to suspend the operation of this machinery - this wave emitter - until the effects are known," LaForge said.

During the last year, there have been 125 arrests for civil disobedience at the site, and an Ashland County judge - who said he's getting "sick" of the increasing protests - has promised six-month jail terms for demonstrators. Undeterred, activists promise to continue their work for peace.

"We are trying to make it as clear as we can that there are people extremely concerned about the facility continuing with its mission," Mike Miles of the Anathoth Community said. "There is certainly no need for the submarines to be on a first-strike trigger, which is what ELF is."

Liberians Claim Double Standard

Across the African continent from Somalia, some Liberians are asking why the United States hasn't acted to end the long suffering in their country as well - especially since they hold the U.S. government partly to blame for the turmoil in Liberia. During the Reagan-Bush years, the United States propped up the corrupt dictatorship of Samuel Doe with more than $500 million in aid.

Liberia, which was founded in the 19th century by freed American slaves, has been in tumult since its 1990 civil war. U.S. warships appeared off the coast during the carnage, but were only there to evacuate Americans - refusing to intervene because Liberia's woes are a "regional problem," according to Bush administration officials. In October five Catholic women religious, members of an Adorers of the Blood of Christ congregation in Ruma, Illinois, were killed in Gardnersville, Liberia, by individuals reputed to be soldiers of the National Patriotic Front of Liberia.

Rocky Flats Scandal Grows

After hearing two-and-a-half years of testimony, a special grand jury investigating environmental crimes at the Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant has written to President-elect Bill Clinton, asking him to appoint a special prosecutor to look into the Justice Department's handling of the case. The grand jury's request of multiple indictments was blocked by the federal prosecutor, who allowed plant operator Rockwell International to escape with a plea bargain settlement last spring.

The grand jury issued a report, published in the December issue of Harper's magazine, which said that it believed that the government had encouraged Rockwell to break the law. "From the perspective of this grand jury," the report said, "Rockwell and the [Department of Energy] were indistinguishable co-conspirators in violating...environmental laws, regulations, and agreements." At press time, Clinton had not yet responded to the grand jury's request.

The letter to Clinton was seen as a strong rebuke to federal prosecutors, who have been widely criticized for not bringing more criminal charges against Rockwell and individuals, according to The New York Times. The letter clearly implied that the government prosecutor protected DOE, a government agency, from further indictments. DOE has admitted that the plant polluted air, water, and soil with plutonium and carcinogenic chemicals during and since its operation as producer of plutonium triggers for the U.S. nuclear arsenal. --(Brigitte Kerpsack assisted with research)

Briefly Noted

• Workers in Ukraine restarted two reactors in December at the damaged Chernobyl nuclear plant because, according to the Associated Press, officials figured the struggling republic's need for energy outweighed the danger at the site of the world's worst nuclear disaster. Power from antiquated nuclear reactors provides 40 percent of the country's electrical needs in winter.
• José Maria Toreira, head of the Jesuits in Central America, called for clemency for the two military officers convicted for the 1989 murder of six priests and two of their co-workers. According to Ecumenical Press Service, Toreira described the two as "mere lackeys" whose prosecution was a cover-up of higher officials who ordered the attack.
• Caterpillar Inc., which defeated a strike last April by threatening to hire scabs, announced in November that it would begin forcing employees to work 10- and 12-hour shifts and would pay no extra for those forced to work weekends and holidays. United Auto Workers officials called the actions "further evidence of top management's blatant antiworker, union-busting agenda."