Nation: Taking Aim at the MX Missile

Two Governors fear the $34 billion system will hurt their states

This is one for the man-bites-dog department. Last week the Governors of two states trooped to Capitol Hill, not to ask for federal money but to urge Congress to reject a mammoth development that would bring millions of dollars into their regions.

Appearing before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction, Utah's Democratic Governor Scott Matheson and Nevada's Republican Governor Robert List attacked the Administration's plans to install in their states the new mobile MX missile that is billed as the nation's most important ICBM of the future. Both men feared that the $34 billion missile system would do irreparable harm to their states.

Each of the 200 missiles would have its own oval "racetrack," ten to 15 miles long. Along every track would be 23 underground shelters. Playing a kind of shell game, a monstrous, 180-ft.-long TEL (transporter-erector-launcher) would laboriously haul the MX from one shelter to another. Or the TEL might leave the missile in place for a while and carry a dummy MX to another shelter or around the course. Watching from the sky, Soviet spy satellites could never be sure exactly where the missile was and hence would have to target all 23 shelters on each of the 200 tracks for a pre-emptive attack.

The MX tracks would be scattered over 45,000 sq. mi. of federally owned land in the Great Basin desert of Utah and Nevada. Matheson and List urged Congress to reconsider the sites because of the damage the project would cause the fragile ecosystem of the area. They were particularly concerned that the construction would increase an already severe water shortage. In addition, Matheson claimed, the invasion of the construction crews would change forever what he called "the chosen way of life" of people in the region's tiny rural communities. Beyond their plea to Congress, the Governors plan to wage a trench-by-trench defense against the MX by showing that the project would violate provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act.

After the Governors appeared in Washington, the Pentagon lost no time launching a counterattack. Testifying before the same House subcommittee, Secretary of Defense Harold Brown claimed that the MX would not increase irrigation problems, stating that once the system was built it would annually require no more water than the amount "consumed at twelve golf courses in the Greater Las Vegas area." During seven years of construction, the Air-Force would try to avoid disrupting the region by forbidding the estimated 25,000 to 50,000 workers to bring their families with them. This would obviate the need to build new communities with schools and other facilities.