Tuesday, March 23, 2004
By Robert Weller, Associated Press
DENVER — A Colorado congressman has asked the Environmental Protection
Agency to respond to claims that environmental crimes at the former
Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant were covered up by the Justice
Department.
The claims are raised in a new book co-written by the foreman of
a grand jury that investigated activities at the site in the late
1980s and early 1990s.
The book alleges the Justice Department cut a deal with Rockwell
Corp., then the site's operator, to pay an $18.5 million fine to
avoid indictments of company and Energy Department officials for
covering up illegal waste dumping, falsification of records, illegal
burning, and other crimes.
Under the agreement, the grand jury was sent home and its report
sealed. Two weeks ago, a federal judge rejected a petition by grand
jury members to release the report.
Last week, Rep. Mark Udall, D-Colo., sent a letter to EPA and state
health officials asking them to look into the claims in the book
by Wes McKinley. Udall released a copy of the letter Monday.
"I am writing to ask if your agencies have examined these
allegations, and if so, what has been done to address the cleanup
of materials and areas that relate to these allegations," said
Udall, whose district includes the Rocky Flats site.
Frank Montarelli, an EPA spokesman, said the agency was responding
to the letter but had no other comment.
Matthew Gonring, a vice president for Rockwell Automation, said
he had not seen the book — The Ambushed Grand Jury: How the Justice
Department Covered Up Government Crimes and How We Caught Them Red-Handed
— so he could not comment in detail.
But he said that "these are old accusations and have been
addressed and thoroughly vetted with the EPA and other regulatory
parties."
Rocky Flats manufactured plutonium triggers for nuclear weapons
from the 1950s to 1989. The last weapons-grade plutonium was removed
in August, and the site will eventually become a national wildlife
refuge.
Source: Associated Press
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