State and federal agencies seek sealed grand jury documents on former nucl

[Judi Lynn]

State and federal agencies seek sealed grand jury documents on former nuclear plant near Denver



Friday, August 20, 2004
By Robert Weller, Associated Press



DENVER — State and federal agencies have asked to see sealed files of a grand jury that investigated alleged environmental crimes at the former Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant, after an advocacy group said cleanup plans were dangerously incomplete.

The Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Energy, and Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment requested the files from U.S. Attorney John Suthers, spokesmen for the agencies said Thursday.

U.S. attorney's spokesman Jeff Dorschner said Suthers has received at least one of the requests, but he did not know when Suthers would respond.

The request came a day after an FBI agent, who led a 1989 raid at Rocky Flats, warned against plans to turn the site, about 10 miles west of downtown Denver, into a wildlife refuge, saying it would be too dangerous.
(snip/...)

http://www.enn.com/news/2004-08-20/s_26630.asp

[struggle4progress]

1. Passing the Buck

August 20, 2004

Federal and state regulators should have long ago requested a review of the grand jury files from the investigation into criminal wrongdoing at the Rocky Flats Nuclear Weapons Plant. That they declined such an offer when it was made in May by Colorado U.S. Attorney John Suthers is nothing less than a violation of the public's trust.

On Wednesday, activists affiliated with the grand jury said the files could help the Department of Energy and state health department determine the location of still-buried radioactive waste. They claim the DOE is relying on false reports, uncovered by the jury years ago, to conclude that parts of the site are clean.

Even if the activists are wrong, regulators still have an obligation to investigate their claims. Taxpayers are shelling out $7 billion to clean up Rocky Flats. Surely they have a right to expect a thorough review of all the relevant documents.

Officials in charge of the cleanup don't get this. As of Wednesday, some were backtracking on a promise that they would either obtain the files or request access to them immediately.
<edit:snip>

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/opinion/article/0,1299,DRMN_38_3123675,00.html



DOE seeks info on Rocky Flats
Article Published: Friday, August 20, 2004
By Joey Bunch
Denver Post Staff Writer

<snip>
The request followed a news conference Wednesday by activists who earlier this year published a book, "The Ambushed Grand Jury."
<snip>

A raid by federal agents in 1989 closed Rocky Flats after 47 years of making plutonium triggers for nuclear warheads.

The federal grand jury was disbanded after an $18.5 million plea agreement in 1992 between prosecutors and Rockwell International, the plant's contractor.

This week, former Rocky Flats worker Jacque Brever released a report claiming nuclear waste is still hidden at the 6,240-acre site. The site is slated to become a national wildlife refuge once the $7.3 billion cleanup is finished in two years.
<snip>

http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~53~2346434,00.html


Activists rap Flats plan, warn of danger
DOE official defends $7 billion cleanup
By Ann Imse, Rocky Mountain News
August 19, 2004

<snip>
PRINT THIS STORY | E-MAIL THIS STORY

Activists rap Flats plan, warn of danger
DOE official defends $7 billion cleanup
By Ann Imse, Rocky Mountain News
August 19, 2004

More than a decade ago, the company running Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant at the time pleaded guilty to dumping radioactive waste on the site.

On Wednesday, activists affiliated with the grand jury that investigated the case said the Department of Energy is relying on falsified reports, uncovered back then, to conclude that parts of the site are clean.

At a news conference, the activists warned that plutonium being left buried at Rocky Flats is so dangerous that the government should bar humans from the site forever and not open it to the public as a wildlife refuge as planned.
<snip>

DOE said it already has considered most of the information, spokeswoman Karen Lutz said. She denied the huge weapons plant will be dangerous when it is flattened to meadow and opened to the public.

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_3121655,00.html


Rocky Flats info brouhaha
DOE, activists split over U.S. attorney's role on documents
By Ann Imse, Rocky Mountain News
August 20, 2004

Three months after the U.S. attorney said he would consider allowing Rocky Flats cleanup officials to see secret grand jury records on illegal dumping, no one has asked to review them.

The Department of Energy, which oversees the former nuclear weapons plant, said Wednesday it requested the files. But its letter only asks U.S. Attorney John Suthers to decide if any of the files are relevant and provide only those documents to the DOE and regulators.
<snip>

DOE's letter was sent the same day activists renewed their call for the 12-year-old files to be opened to the public. They say Rocky Flats can't be cleaned up without knowledge of the dumping detailed in the grand jury probe.
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The state health department and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency both said Thursday they have only discussed making requests and only for certain documents.
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http://rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_3124491,00.html


FBI agent is silenced on Flats
Jon Lipsky supports efforts to stop the former nuclear arms facility from becoming a public recreation area.
Article Published: Thursday, August 19, 2004
By Jim Hughes
Denver Post Staff Writer

The FBI ordered a special agent who investigated environmental crimes at Rocky Flats in the 1980s not to talk Wednesday at a news conference organized by anti-nuclear activists, the agent said.

Jon Lipsky, now assigned to an FBI field office in California, took vacation time to travel to Denver, he said. The FBI called him en route Tuesday, he said.

"I received a call from the FBI ordering me not to talk about the Rocky Flats case, so I can't tell you what I came here to tell you," he said at a news conference in Denver.

Lipsky said he supported the activists trying to stop the former nuclear weapons plant from becoming a wilderness refuge and public recreation area. This transformation of Rocky Flats' 6,240 acres northwest of Arvada could occur after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service takes control of the property in 2006.
<more>

http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~53~2343499,00.html


FBI agent: Ex-nuclear weapons plant not safe for wildlife refuge
By Robert Weller
ASSOCIATED PRESS
3:34 p.m. August 18, 2004

<snip>
The news conference was called to discuss a report written by former Rocky Flats employee Jacque Brever accusing the Department of Energy of lying about the extent of contamination at Rocky Flats, about 10 miles west of downtown Denver.
<snip>

Brever's report said so much radioactive waste was disposed of clandestinely at Rocky Flats that some contaminated areas are not part of the cleanup.

"I can tell you that Jacque's report is accurate," said Lipsky, saying he was speaking as a private citizen.

FBI spokesman Joe Parris confirmed Lipsky had been told not to talk about the investigation because he had not followed standard procedure and asked for permission. Parris said Lipsky could have faced sanctions if he had discussed it.
<snip>

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/nation/20040818-1534-wst-rockyflats.html