Salt Lake Tribune
In a cover story that military and congressional sources contend
is bunk, Popular Mechanics says the Air Force plans to abandon its "Area 51''
base at Nevada's Groom Dry Lake 90 miles north of LasVegas. The secretiveoperations would be moved to the old Green River Missile Launch Complex just southof Green River, 180 miles southeast of Salt Lake City. The old Utah base, once
a testing pad for Athena and Pershing missiles, was closed by the Army in 1975. The military supposedly wants to move its "black budget'' aircraft
testing from Groom Lake because of Area 51's fame and latent radioactive
contamination from surface testing of atomic bombs in the 1950s.
The latest alleged resurrection of the missile base came as a
surprise to the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA). "We wouldn't have a position until we've seen
something on paper,'' said SUWA's Scott Groene. "But aliens have always been
big supporters of wilderness, so who knows?''