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from Aerojet to actually proceed with this project, and there Is no 

 objective analysis that would Indicate that any possible economic 

 advantages of the proposed development would outweigh the very real 

 potential environmental problems. We see no reason that quick 

 Congressional action Is necessary because Aerojet has not received firm 

 contracts from the government that would require Immediate development 

 of the Nevada lands. 



We would like to draw the Committee's attention to a news article 

 appearing June 21, 1987 in the RENO GAZETTE- JOURNAL describing Nevada's 

 first Superfund site in Wells, Nevada. We cite this situation as an 

 example of hundreds of jobs being dangled in front of a small, 

 economically depressed community to persuade its officials to issue 

 permits, in this case for a waste disposal plant. Without much 

 checking, officials approved the facility. Subsequently, EPA is 

 spending $280,000 to decontaminate a site polluted with 9,000 gallons of 

 organic chemicals soaking into the ground, uphill from the municipal 

 water supply. (Attachment A). 



Nevadans do not want a repeat of this scenario with Aerojet. The 

 unavoidable fact is that the Aerojet has a dismal environmental record. 

 A major polluter in California involved in Superfund toxic waste 

 disasters at the Stringfellow Acid Pits and its rocket fuel plant In 

 Rancho Cordova, it is perhaps not surprising that the corporation wants 



