From: ww@nyxfer.UUCP
Newsgroups: alt.activism
Subject: Rocky Flats:Pollution Conspiracy
Date: 27 Jan 93 09:49:00 GMT
Nf-ID: #N:5sX1XB9w165w@nyxfer.uucp:-988243955:000:3399
Nf-From: nyxfer.uucp!ww    Jan 27 01:49:00 1993


Subject: Rocky Flats:Pollution Conspiracy
From: nyxfer!ww (Workers World Service)


Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit


ROCKY FLATS POLLUTION CONSPIRACY REVEALED

By Lyn Neeley

Investigators from the House of Representatives have found the 
Rockwell International-operated nuclear bomb plant at Rocky 
Flats, Colo., the Department of Energy which owns the plant, and 
the Justice Department which "quashed prosecution" of top 
Rockwell executives all responsible for committing and covering 
up horrendous environmental crimes.

The congressional action was taken after pressure from members of
a grand jury looking into the case. Then in November, the jurors 
wrote to President-elect Clinton demanding an investigation of 
the Justice Department's leniency in convictions against 
Rockwell. The grand jury carried out its own year-long 
investigation of the plant after being outraged at a plea bargain
that let Rockwell and DOE officials off with only 10 violations 
and fines of $18.5 million. Does that sound like a lot of money? 
It will cost taxpayers more than $1 billion--50 times as much--to
clean up Rocky Flats.

The grand jurors found that for 40 years Rockwell operated one of
the nation's most polluted sites, poisoning the environment with 
massive doses of plutonium, tritium and other radioactive toxins.
They illegally stored, treated and disposed of hazardous 
radioactive waste. The company dished out millions of dollars in 
bonuses to government and corporate employees, carrying on a 
secret campaign of coverups in the name of national security.

According to the House investigation, dozens of Justice 
Department aides let Rockwell avoid "millions of dollars in fines
and additional convictions against the corporation and some 
executives." Investigators reported the DOE "actively 
participated in and directed a conscious and ongoing effort to 
evade the application of certain environmental laws to the plant 
... hiding behind the sovereign immunity of the U.S. government."

In the congressional report, the Justice Department was fingered 
for blocking the release of the grand jury's investigation and 
for covering up an agreement with the company that they would not
release any information if the jurors' investigation opened 
Rockwell to civil suits.

Rep. Howard Wolpe (D-Mich.) said federal "prosecutors had 
evidence that poisons were spread into drinking water, in 
violation of the Clean Water Act, but stopped pursuing evidence 
and making charges so as to not jeopardize a negotiated 
settlement." The congressional investigation found that lead 
prosecutor Kenneth Fimber told the department to anticipate "a 
barrage of inquiries" because "terrible substances" were getting 
into the drinking water.

To add insult to injury, Rockwell is billing the government for 
$7.9 million in legal fees. Both it and the Justice Department 
refuse to admit to any crimes.
 
                               -30-

Copyright Workers World Service: Permission to reprint granted if
source is cited. For more info contact Workers World, 46 West 21st
Street, New York, NY 10010; e-mail: ww%nyxfer@igc.apc.org or
workers@mcimail.com.



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