Peace Talk — Autumn 2005

The Quarterly Newsletter of Peace Action Maine
Nuclear Proliferation in Our Own Backyard
by Greg Field, PAM Executive Director

If nuclear weapons proliferation registers with most people here in the United States, it does so with discussions about the dangers of Iran and North Korea engaging in weapons development. It’s easy to understand why, with the media and government attention focused on the spread of nukes, and little attention paid to threats posed by the expansion of weapons in our country’s arsenal.

The Bush administration is determined to push ahead with the work on a new generation of nuclear weapons, most notably the Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator (RNEP, or nuclear bunker buster). But the policies also include a full-scale plan for upgrading and modernizing the entire stockpile of warheads with the intent of keeping nuclear weapons as part of US military planning for decades to come.

This is a grave threat to our global community, and not just for the future. Yes, it directly undermines the Non-Proliferation Treaty (of which the US is signatory) and its commitment from the weapons-holding states to the abolition of nuclear weapons. Yes, it sends the wrong signal to countries including North Korea.

The administration’s efforts to modernize the entire nuclear weapons stockpiles have direct and immediate impact right here in our own backyards, right now. Bush’s plans include multi-million dollar projects that, if funded, will have a devastating effect on our communities. With deficits high and budgets tight, these nuclear weapons programs inevitably target the vital lifelines that protect our communities. They take out schools, public health programs, first responder and other emergency preparedness agencies.

If the Bush administration prevails, ground zero for the new nukes will be our own backyards.

But even in the midst of these bleak scenarios, there are positive signs. This summer, Sen. Susan Collins voted to defund the RNEP. PAM worked with the Maine chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility and Tom Ewell from the Maine Council of Churches on efforts to move our Senators’ votes. Grassroots mobilizing yielded results‹with calls, e-mails, and faxes leaning heavily against the nukes funding. We linked up physicists who have worked with our central New Jersey Peace Action affiliate to lobby with PSR-Maine president Peter Wilk and Ewell. These twinned efforts helped persuade Senator Collins, and we hope to do the same with Senator Snowe. If we’re going to save our own backyards as well as protect the global community, we have to keep this effort alive.