[CPEO-MEF] Wartime test site in Utah bursting with old bombs

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Utah
THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE
Wartime test site in Utah bursting with old bombs
By Pamela Manson
August 14, 2003

Near the end of World War II, the U.S. government looked for a way to
fight Japanese soldiers entrenched in Pacific Island caves. A piece of
Utah mining property turned out to be the perfect site to test its high
explosive weapons.

The war is over, but the Utah land still looks like a battleground,
covered with unexploded bombs and debris, its owners claim.

And although Army officials promised in 1945 to leave the Tooele County
property the way they found it, they are off the hook. An appeals court
has ruled that despite the government's "abysmal failure" to clean up
the site, which is part of the Yellow Jacket Area, it's too late for the
owners to sue.

The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in a Monday ruling said landowners and
siblings M. Louise Cannon and Allan Robert Cannon filed their claim
after a two-year statute of limitations expired.

The decision was a blow to the Cannons, whose family has been trying for
decades to get the property cleaned up. The land covers 1,416 acres and
has about 86 mines.

"It's more than a disappointment," Louise Cannon said. "It's absolutely
obscene."

The court criticized the government, but that was little comfort to the
Cannons' lawyer, Ryan Harris.

"This property is a danger to everyone," Harris said. "There are
unexploded bombs still sitting there."

This article can be viewed at:
http://www.sltrib.com/2003/aug/08142003/utah/83802.asp

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