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The Rocky Flats Horror Picture Show

Ex-FBI agent charges feds with radioactive coverup at Rocky Flats
By Amanda Griscom Little 21 Jan 2005 in grist magazine

The plotline sounds as absurd as a made-for-TV movie: An FBI agent exposes deadly contamination at an old nuclear-weapons plant, but the federal government conceals the findings. Years later, Congress votes to convert the tract into a wildlife refuge and open it to school field trips and public recreation. The site becomes a poster child for eco-friendly nuclear-waste disposal -- with a dangerous radioactive secret lurking below the surface.

Fact, of course, can be stranger than fiction -- even bad Sunday-night-on-CBS fiction -- and former FBI agent Jon Lipsky is one of several insiders who say the above scenario is unfolding right beneath Uncle Sam's nose.

In 1989, Lipsky led an FBI raid on the Rocky Flats nuclear-weapons plant in Colorado after receiving reports that the plant posed a huge public-health threat. His raid, which took place over 18 days and
involved more than 100 FBI and EPA officials, gave way to a nearly three-year criminal investigation into widespread radioactive contamination of the air, water, and soil at the 6,240-acre site and the surrounding suburbs of nearby Denver.

The raid prompted the Department of Justice to assemble a special grand jury to investigate the evidence against U.S government officials and Rockwell International, the private defense contractor that managed Rocky Flats from 1975 to 1989 on behalf of the Department of Energy. Rockwell pleaded guilty to certain counts of negligence and paid a fine, but never fessed up to the full extent of the crimes Lipsky says he witnessed. The case was settled with a plea bargain agreement, and the Department of Justice sealed the contamination evidence from the public.

Next month, Lipsky will be party to a lawsuit against DOJ in conjunction with Wes McKinley, the former leader of the Rocky Flats grand jury, and Jacque Brever, a former chemical operator at the plant who suffers from radiation exposure, in an effort to unseal the documents.

The plaintiffs are concerned, in particular, about a 2001 congressional decision to turn Rocky Flats into a wildlife refuge, which may have as many as 16 miles of trails for hiking and horseback riding. On Dec. 31, Lipsky retired early from the FBI to protest the agency's orders that he keep mum about the Rocky Flats controversy. "I left so I could help expose the truth," he told Muckraker. "Without the truth there can be no real understanding of the extent of this environmental crime, and there can be no thorough cleanup."

Lipsky describes the DOE's ongoing cleanup effort at the nuke site, scheduled to be completed by 2006, as "woefully inadequate -- a farce." As for the decision to make Rocky Flats a tourist destination, he said, "There is nothing safe or sane about it."

Before the vote on the Rocky Flats designation, Lipsky wrote an open letter to Congress putting his objections in no uncertain terms: "I am an FBI agent. My superiors have ordered me to lie about a criminal investigation I headed in 1989. The Justice Department covered up the truth ... I have refused to follow the orders ... Some dangerous decisions are now being made based on that government cover-up."

He exhorted members of Congress to read the book The Ambushed Grand Jury, a chronicle of the cover-up by Colorado lawyer Caron Balkany, who is representing Lipsky et al. in their lawsuit, and McKinley, the former grand-jury member, who was just elected to the Colorado state legislature.

The DOE dismisses Lipsky's charges as bunk. Department spokesperson Karen Lutz flatly denies that there's anything to be concerned about. "Our Rocky Flats cleanup effort has been going on for 15 years, and the whole time it has been meticulous, thorough, and transparent, with full community participation. We've had this under a microscope -- the oversight has been incredibly vigilant. There is nothing legitimate about these allegations." The Department of Justice did not respond to Muckraker's request for comment.

The critics counter that DOE wanted to keep the public in the dark to cut corners on cost, not to mention protect itself from criticism for environmental negligence. The department allocated $7 billion to the cleanup, a sum initially criticized as far too low to enable a thorough job. And less than 8 percent of the allocated sum is even being used to decontaminate the site, the plaintiffs say; the rest is going to administrative costs and decommissioning the plant.

Former Rocky Flats employee Jacque Brever, who claims to have read more than 16,000 documents on the cleanup, told Muckraker that the effort is "so bad you wouldn't even believe it." She said several fields and hillsides that had been dumping grounds for toxic and radioactive wastes have been excluded from the cleanup. Additionally, she said, the sampling techniques for determining contamination levels are misleading, and the standards for soil and water purification are weak.

"There is no question in my mind that the grounds are still hot [radioactive] at that site, and will be for a long time," she said. "That plant was spewing radioactive ash and effluent for nearly 40 years. We dumped radioactive stuff in areas they're not even looking at. We buried drums that corroded underground, and they're looking only at the surface of the soil." Brever worked at the plant for 10 years and her fiancé for 19 years. Both spent most of their careers in "hot" areas of the facility where they were directly exposed to plutonium. Brever now has thyroid cancer and her fiancé has a rare form of eye cancer, both illnesses associated with long-term exposure to radioactivity. They haven't been able to get financial compensation for their medical treatment, she said, because some key records pertaining to their exposure have been suppressed. "We're having difficulty proving our case. That's why we're taking it to the courts -- to get the rest of our records released."

The effort to transform Rocky Flats into a wildlife refuge was lead by Colorado Rep. Mark Udall (D) and Colorado Sen. Wayne Allard (R). But at the time, says Lipsky, Udall and Allard, like everyone else, didn't have access to all the facts. "Congress didn't know that there was midnight plutonium burning. Congress didn't know that there was extensive offsite contamination. Congress didn't know the site had an irrigation system that dispersed radioactive liquid from the holding ponds throughout the surrounding fields to skirt discharge constraints."

McKinley has announced that he will introduce a bill in the Colorado legislature that would require officials at the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge to warn visitors of the site's past. "People shouldn't visit a so-called park that for half a century has been a radioactive waste dump without knowing about the malfeasance that happened there," he said. "You get warning labels on hot coffee, why shouldn't you be warned that you could be walking on 'hot' ground?"

What concerns attorney Balkany the most is that the Rocky Flats cleanup could be used to fuel the myth that nuclear waste can be safely handled. "I believe the main goal of the DOJ and the nuke industry at Rocky Flats is greenwashing. It helps both nuclear power and the nuclear-weapons industries to convince people that industries and government can deal with their waste in a safe way," she said.

This could be of particular interest to the Bush administration, given that just last week, in President Bush's first newspaper interview since his reelection, he told The Wall Street Journal of his hopes to spark a nuclear-power renaissance, glorifying nuclear power in ways that many would deem delusional: "I believe nuclear power answers a lot of our issues," he said. "It certainly answers the environmental issue." He later added: "It's a renewable source of energy." Who's ever heard of renewable energy that creates cancer-causing waste?

"Just watch," said Brever. "They're going to hold up Rocky Flats as the nuclear-waste success story, the flagship. It's going to happen all over the country: Washington is going to make nuclear-waste dumps into plutonium playgrounds."

January 22, 2005 in World News | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Top 12 Funniest Newspaper Classifieds

(Actual excerpts from classified sections of city newspapers)

1. Illiterate? Write today for free help.
2. Our experienced Mom will care for your child. Fenced yard, meals, and smacks included.
3. Auto Repair Service. Free pick-up and delivery. Try us once; you'll never go anywhere again.
4. 3-year old teacher needed for pre-school. Experience preferred.
5. Wanted. Widower with school age children requires person to assume general housekeeping duties. Must be capable of contributing to growth of family.
6. Used Cars: Why go elsewhere to be cheated. Come here first.
7. Dog for sale: eats anything and is fond of children.
8. Man wanted to work in dynamite factory. Must be willing to travel.
9. For sale: antique desk suitable for lady with thick legs and large drawers.
10. Tired of cleaning yourself. Let me do it.
11. Wanted. Man to take care of cow that does not smoke or drink.
12. We do not tear your clothing with machinery. We do it carefully by hand.

January 22, 2005 in Humor | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack

January 21, 2005

Nutrition Data

NutritionData.com is a free and very useful website for detailed nutrition information, including the in-vogue Glycemic Index; their own Fullness Factor, a measure of how filling foods are per calorie; and others. Their Better Choices Diet makes use of the Fullness Factor to make consuming less energy than you use easier to do without going hungry.

January 21, 2005 in Food and Drink | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack

January 20, 2005

Pure Entrepreneurs

Boston Globe has an article by Scott Kirsner:

Pure entrepreneurs are loopy and obsessed. They have a vision of the future, and while others are casting their lines into the water to see what will bite, pure entrepreneurs are jumping over the gunwales and swimming after the white whale.

Pure entrepreneurship, by my definition, is often driven by a belief that a major shift is coming -- and thus it's hard to find customers who already understand that they need the product a pure entrepreneur is developing.

Pure entrepreneurship is often a solo enterprise, funded by credit cards, consulting projects, and second mortgages. It sparks revolutions and spawns big companies.

''Something just clicks, and you say, 'This is worth doing, and I think other people will be interested,' " Dan Bricklin says. ''It hits you that there's a need, and that pursuing it is worth the risk."

January 20, 2005 in Info | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Fractal Maze

Fractal Maze, one of the most evil puzzles I have ever encountered. It's documented briefly at mathpuzzle.com (scroll down a bit), which also features a smaller fractal maze.

January 20, 2005 in Fun, Games | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

January 19, 2005

Exploding the Self-Esteem Myth

Boosting people's sense of self-worth has become a national preoccupation. Yet surprisingly, research shows that such efforts are of little value in fostering academic progress or preventing undesirable behavior.

People intuitively recognize the importance of self-esteem to their psychological health, so it isn't particularly remarkable that most of us try to protect and enhance it in ourselves whenever possible. What is remarkable is that attention to self-esteem has become a communal concern, at least for Americans, who see a favorable opinion of oneself as the central psychological source from which all manner of positive outcomes spring. The corollary, that low self-esteem lies at the root of individual and thus societal problems and dysfunctions, has sustained an ambitious social agenda for decades. Indeed, campaigns to raise people's sense of self-worth abound.

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Some findings even suggest that artificially boosting self-esteem may lower subsequent academic performance.

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Read

January 19, 2005 in Info | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

January 18, 2005

The Ballerina Gallery

To the uninitiated, the world of ballet is a highbrow yawn-inspiring, tutu-laden spectacle of monumental insipidness. But Philistines of the world, unite with us in a newfound appreciation of this art form and the lithe women who practice it. From the legendary Anna Pavlova to dancers known only to balletomanes, these women display remarkable flexibility, athleticism, and grace. Then consider who could possibly fill Margot Fonteyn's well-worn size 4 shoes. In this enormous collection of photos, Jorgen Wilhelmsson has created a glorious homage to the ballerinas of yesterday and today. But as impressive as the collection is, it pales when compared to the talent and beauty of the women it celebrates.

January 18, 2005 in Art | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack

January 17, 2005

Cover-Ups

Exposing "The Man's" cover-ups has long been an obsession of conspiracy theorists. Whether they're insisting the Apollo moon landings were staged or agonizing over how Small Wonder ever got the green light, this is a group that definitely takes its media coverage with a grain (or two) of salt. Cover-Ups.com allows like-minded seekers of "truth" a chance to pull back the curtain on history's more infamous conspiracies. All the classic questions are pondered: Was Big Foot a giant, furry beast or just a wandering woodsman with an aversion to photographers? Does Area 51 really house the bodies of little green men? And while we're at it, who the heck killed JFK? The site even has a section dedicated to that friend of the working man, Jimmy Hoffa -- a fella whose unsolved disappearance is still making news 28 years later. An ideal site for those who imagine they're not getting the whole story, Cover-Ups.com encourages you to indulge your suspicious side.

January 17, 2005 in History | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack