“This is the power of the people,” he said, after addressing a packed Capitol hearing room. “I am going to bring their message to Washington and get something done.”

The Republican governor called the public hearing as an alternative to the widely derided “information sessions” held earlier this month by the federal Defense Threat Reduction Agency and the National Nuclear Security Administration, the federal agencies behind the huge, non-nuclear test.

Hundreds of Utahns have panned the federal meetings, saying they did not provide an essential public forum. They wanted to say they don't want new nuclear tests at the Nevada Test Site, where Divine Strake is planned. And they don't want a new generation of Downwinders, people who blame exposure to past atomic tests for illnesses and death.

So, as speaker after speaker stepped up Wednesday to attack the federal proposal, Huntsman won thank you after thank you. When the first few finished their presentations at the hearing, he stepped up, shook their hands and shared a few words with them.

“This is exactly what the state ought to be doing,” he told the crowd. “And we'll have an impact.”

The Divine Strake plans involve detonating 700 tons of conventional explosives at the Nevada Test Site. The federal agencies say the explosion will help them better understand how to use non-nuclear and nuclear bombs to destroy the kinds of deep, underground bunkers being used by the nation's foreign enemies.

The current round of Divine Strake meetings, including Huntsman's two public hearings and four federal information sessions, were offered to gather comments on an environmental assessment the agencies completed last month. The comment period closes Feb. 7. Huntsman said he will have the public hearing comments transcribed and include them in the state's formal comments on the environmental review.

What the comments will not be able to capture, though, is the spirit of outrage, fear and defiance that pervaded Huntsman's hearings.

Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson echoed Huntsman on the necessity of challenging the federal government's assertions that the test will not hurt Utahns or their environment.

“We will not allow another public health catastrophe, caused by the federal government, to devastate the lives of our good, hardworking citizens," he said.

Other political leaders who addressed the crowd of about 200 included Salt Lake City Councilwoman Nancy Saxton, Utah Senate President John Valentine of Provo and state Sen. Dennis Stowell, R-Parowan.

Darlene Phillips of Bountiful, like many speakers, told a personal story of illness blamed on exposure to past Nevada Test Site explosions and how she fears she exposed her own children to contamination through milk. She said Utahns were scared into silence about the 928 nuclear tests at the Nevada Test Site.

“We've also drunk the milk,” she said. “We've also breathed the air. We've swallowed the lies, and this time I will not be silent again.”

fahys@sltrib.com