Our problems with the Salt Lake Tribune article:

a) NNSA cannot conclusively state there was no fallout in the fire smoke until alpha and beta lab testing is complete.  Alpha emitters (i.e., plutonium) can easily get caught in the lungs, where they can lead to cancer.  Wouldn't you like to know what went into your air?

b) The City Weekly article discussed that the fallout could very likely be in the ash, not the filter - "It took looking at the ash to determine the scarier aftermath."  We should listen to the experts who experienced the Cerro Grande fire.  That fire, which encircled Los Alamos National Laboratory, burned through outdoor areas tainted with contaminated soil and vegetation. The inferno in the summer of 2000 resuspended radioactive substances - including depleted uranium, plutonium and americium - at levels up to 135 times the yearly limit the government sets for nuclear workers' exposure.

c) Article did not fully address the implications of a faulty CEMP network.  The network is ill-prepared for a nuclear accident, terrorist attack or the effects of a dozen other wildfires burning (resuspending fallout) across the West.  Northern Utah: no CEMP monitors for you.

d) There is STILL no viable theory to explain the gamma spikes.  In the absence of a proven theory, there needs to be more testing (alphas, soils, etc...)

e) The UNLV study is not an 'independent analysis'.  An independent analysis would be performed by a lab that citizens and the government can agree to.  More

f) The analysis looked specifically for Cs137 as a marker for all other fallout whereas Cs137 didn't always fall where its buddies did.  There could be dozens of weak gamma radioisotopes that in large quantities could have triggered the gamma spikes.   NNSA/DRI needs to identify all radioisotopes before making blanket statements to the press.

Update 8.8.07 Testing of Milford air filter (for July 2-9) for alpha/beta particles has been completed.