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Nuclear Cleanup Commitment

The front-page article "Wiggle Room in the Federal Wallet - Surprise! Some programs are getting more money in era of Republican penury," Sept. 28, inaccurately asserts that "both the Senate and the House want to beef up two major Department of Energy responsibilities: environmental cleanup and nuclear weapons development." In reality, the House of Representatives cut the Energy Department's cleanup budget by more than $800 million below the president's request. If these cuts were enacted, they would cause widespread delays in cleanup progress, result in numerous violations of legal requirements, and increase the long-term costs of the cleanup program.

The Department of Energy is committed to protecting the public's and workers' health and safety and the integrity of the environment. Cleaning up after the cold war is not merely congressional "pork barrel." It is the debt owed to all Americans, and particularly to the workers and people living near the nuclear weapons factories.

Thomas P. Grumbly

Washington

Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management

Department of Energy

In Monterey, the quake damaged mainly frozen food

There is one statement that needs to be corrected in the article "Monterey Spins Itself as Cultural Kaleidoscope," Oct. 6. The 1989 earthquake did not damage broad areas of the Monterey Peninsula as the article stated. That earthquake caused extensive damage to the north in Santa Cruz county. The epicenter of the earthquake was too far away from us to cause any significant damage here. The biggest problem we had in Monterey was the loss of electricity for about 24 hours, which caused widespread spoilage of frozen foods.

James B. Toy

Monterey, Calif.