101 



Nuclear concerns 



Senate Fairbanks hearings a start 



Central Intelligence Agency Director Robert Gates 

 interrupted his family's Alaska v?ication last 

 Saturday and put on a suit and tie to testify about the 

 CIA's knowledge of nuclear and heavy metals 

 pollution in the former USSR. 



Although Mr. Gates wasn't very forthcoming and 

 offered little new information. Sen. Frank 

 Murkowski, R-Alaska. deserves credit for bringing 

 him to Alaska. 



Following Gatesi testimony at the Fairbanks 

 hearing, several panels composed mainly of scientists, 

 university and government officials took to the stage! 

 There was a general consensus that nuclear and heavy 

 metals pollution in the Russian Arctic is widespread, 

 even catastrophic. But no one knows its tatent and 

 most say it first must be found and monitored, then 

 cleaned up if necessary. 



On a related note, said Dr. Stephanie Pfirman of 

 the Environmental Defense Fund, the blanket of 

 winter arctic haze is comparable to the size of Africa 

 — and it's not just affecting the Arctic. It extends into 

 Eurasia and even into the northern Midwest states. 

 How has the U.S. contributed to arctic haze, and what 

 will we do about it? 



Summing up the day and voicing the thoughts of 

 many colleagues. Dr. Vera Alexander of the 

 University of Alaska Fairbanks succinctly said we 

 need an inter-disciplinary and multi-national 

 approach to decades of Soviet-era pollution. 



In light of this, U.S. scientists and government 

 officials would do well by the American public — and 

 Alaskans in particular — if they followed the 

 Norwegians' lead. Briefly, the Norwegian government 

 is working with Russia to map where Soviet-era 

 nuclear dumping and testing took place at the 

 S c andinavian end of the Russian Arctic Ocean. 



Alaskans who heard about the Fairbanks event 

 might well ask what it held for them. Part of the 

 answer came from sketchy testimony that revealed 

 polluted areas exist on the Alaska side of the former 

 Soviet empire. Yet their extent and exact locations 

 aren't widely known. 



Like the Norwegians looking eastward, we must 

 look westward across the narrow Bering Strait to find 

 answers — and begin working with the nations and 

 people of the Arctic on solutions. 



