SENATE DOCKET, NO. 1542        FILED ON: 1/18/2019

SENATE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 2155

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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PRESENTED BY:

Joanne M. Comerford

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To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:

The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying resolution:

Resolutions relative to the prohibition of nuclear weapons.

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PETITION OF:

SENATE DOCKET, NO. 1542        FILED ON: 1/18/2019

SENATE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 2155

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the One Hundred and Ninety-First General Court
(2019-2020)

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Resolutions relative to the prohibition of nuclear weapons.

WHEREAS, since the height of the Cold War, the United States and Russia have dismantled more than 50,000 nuclear warheads, but 14,500 of these weapons still exist and pose an intolerable risk to human survival; and

WHEREAS, ninety-five percent of these weapons are in the hands of the United States and Russia and the rest are held by seven other countries: China, France, Israel, India, North Korea, Pakistan, and the United Kingdom; and

WHEREAS, the use of even a tiny fraction of these weapons could cause worldwide climate disruption and global famine; for example, as few as 100 Hiroshima-sized bombs, small by modern standards, if used to attack urban industrial targets would put at least five million tons of soot into the upper atmosphere and cause climate disruption across the planet, cutting food production and putting two billion people at risk of starvation; and

WHEREAS, a large-scale nuclear war would kill hundreds of millions of people directly and cause unimaginable environmental damage and catastrophic climate disruption by dropping temperatures across the planet to levels not seen since the last ice age; under these conditions the vast majority of the human race would starve and it is possible we would become extinct as a species; and

WHEREAS, despite assurances that these arsenals exist solely to guarantee that they are never used, there have been many occasions when nuclear armed states have prepared to use these weapons, and war has been averted only at the last minute; and

WHEREAS, nuclear weapons do not possess some magical quality that prevents their use; and

WHEREAS, former Defense Secretary Robert McNamara said, speaking about the Cuban Missile Crisis, “It was luck that prevented nuclear war,” yet our nuclear policy cannot be the hope that luck will continue; and

WHEREAS, the effects of climate change will place increased stress on communities around the world and intensify the likelihood of conflict, causing the danger of nuclear war will grow; and

WHEREAS, the planned expenditure of more than $1 trillion to enhance our nuclear arsenal will not only increase the risk of nuclear disaster but fuel a global arms race and divert crucial resources needed to assure the well-being of the American people and people all over the world; and

WHEREAS, there is an alternative to this march toward nuclear war: in July 2017, 122 nations called for the elimination of all nuclear weapons by adopting the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons; now,

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the General Court calls on our federal leaders to embrace the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and make nuclear disarmament the centerpiece of our national security policy; and be it further

RESOLVED, that the Legislature calls upon our federal leaders and our nation to spearhead a global effort to prevent nuclear war by renouncing the option of using nuclear weapons first, ending the President’s sole, unchecked authority to launch a nuclear attack, taking U.S. nuclear weapons off hair-trigger alert, canceling the plan to replace its entire arsenal with enhanced weapons, and actively pursuing a verifiable agreement among nuclear-armed states to eliminate their nuclear arsenals; and be it further

RESOLVED, that the clerk of the senate transmit copies of this resolution to the President and Vice President of the United States, the Speaker and Minority Leader of the United States House of Representatives, the Majority and Minority Leaders of the United States Senate, and to each Senator and Representative from the commonwealth in the Congress of the United States, and to the governor of the commonwealth.