Category Archives: Commentary

Rocky Flats Site Selection

Posted on by

I’ve often heard and read that the selection of Rocky Flats as the location where a new nuclear weapons production facility code named “Project Apple” would be constructed was flawed because those doing the selection used wind direction at what was then the Stapleton Field, which led them to believe the wind would frequently blow towards the mountains instead of toward Denver. I recently found a copy of the report prepared by the Austin Company titled “Engineering Survey and Report for Santa Fe Operations Office of the Atomic Energy Commission on the Location and Site for Project Apple” in the archives of the Rocky Flats Museum.  The report, which was submitted on March 27, 1951, says in the cover letter, “As we advised representatives of…the Atomic Energy Commission, the Site Review Committee and representatives of the Dow Chemical Company …on March 14 and 15, we have recommended site 4, at Rocky Flats northwest of Denver, as best satisfying the Site Selection Criteria…” The report states that the location was to be “West of the Mississippi River, North of Texas, but include Panhandle Area, South of the northern boundary of Colorado; East of Utah.” There were nine cities that met the preliminary criteria of being 5 to 25 miles from a city of at or near 25,000 people (from which to recruit a work force). The cities were Oklahoma City, Omaha, Lincoln, Amarillo, Springfield, Topeka, Denver, Colorado Springs, and Pueblo. There were 35 sites investigated in the vicinity of those nine cities. Six additional cities with populations fewer than 25,000 were added to the consideration, but none were judged to provide any advantage that would overcome the smaller population.

The site area was required to “…be a square, two miles on a side. Land presently owned or controlled by the Government is preferable.”  The plant area had to meet some basic suitability requirements for building construction and require a minimum displacement of homes and people. It was desired that the region have living conditions, community facilities, and recreational opportunities that would be attractive to workers. A low humidity climate was a primary consideration, since the plant would require significant air conditioning that was expected to be provided by evaporative cooling. Rail, highway, and air transportation factored into the evaluation as well as availability of power, water, and fuel. It was determined that the three Colorado cities were the only ones to meet the crucial climatic criteria. “Pueblo is less suitable than Denver in being less attractive to workers and in being home of Colorado Fuel and Iron’s vital industrial operations (a possible military target). Colorado Springs has the fundamental disadvantage of being served by a relatively small local electrical utility which has no interconnections with other utilities as emergency sources.”

It was determined that a site near Denver would be selected, and dozens of potential sites were evaluated. It is frequently asked why anyone would build a plant manufacturing plutonium components near a major metropolitan area. The report makes it clear that proximity to Denver was a positive consideration to those doing the evaluation. “The field survey reduced (the number of sites) to seven sites which lie nearest to the City of Denver and could be economically served with power, water, railroads, and highways.” (Emphasis added) The seven sites were:

North of and adjacent to the Rocky Mountain Arsenal

Six and a half miles northeast of Brighton

Gunbarrel Hill seven miles northeast of Boulder

Rocky Flats

South of the Federal Center

South of Marston Lake, two miles from Littleton, by the South Platte River

Two miles south of Littleton by the South Platte River

The selected site was Rocky Flats and the alternate was the one by the Rocky Mountain Arsenal. It is interesting that an “advantage” of the Arsenal location was it was nearer to present residential areas and considerably nearer to Stapleton Field. The advantages were overcome by “…the undesirable reaction of the public to having this additional ‘secret’ project close to the civilian installations northeast of Denver and in the South Platte Valley.” One mention of wind direction was in a table that lists “Unfavorable Factors” for the sites south of Marston Lake and the one south of Littleton that the prevailing wind was toward Denver.

I wrote in my book “An Insider’s View of Rocky Flats, Urban myths debunked,” that I found arguments that Rocky Flats shouldn’t have been selected because wind directions were misinterpreted to be “tedious.” The Stapleton Field wind rose shows the wind blowing in all directions, including to the north just under a fourth of the time and to the south a tenth of the time. I predict no one who thought or thinks Rocky Flats was a poor place to build a nuclear weapons plant would have endorsed any of the seven Denver locations or the 35 original sites near other cities.

Soviet Support to Western Peace Organizations

Posted on by

This subject was first discussed in a post dated February 25, 2011 after I had received comments from a senior DOE official about my book, “An Insider’s View of Rocky Flats, Urban Myths Debunked.” One of the comments was about the massive support the Soviet Union had given to groups that protested places such as Rocky Flats. My most recent post was about an organization named Citizens Against Nuclear Disinformation In Denver (CANDID) that was formed by nuclear scientists and engineers frustrated by the flood rhetoric being spread by the ill-informed mainstream media and anti-nuclear groups following the highly publicized FBI raid of the Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant in June 1989. There was a CANDID article authored by Dr. Michael R. Fox titled “The Counterfeit Peace Makers” published in December 1993 that discusses the work by the Communists to influence the “peace movements.” Dr. Fox mentions that a good scouting report would be useful to understand “…the values, agendas, tactics and influence on some to the participants. Specifically, the peace groups could stand a little more glare of scrutiny.”

“That these critics have reveled in portraying Rocky Flats workers as being a collection of careless devils incarnate, RF employees and friends may still be amazed as to how their critics could have reached such conclusions. A scouting report is thus provided.”

“To understand the Western Peace Movement (WPM)…it is best to understand the World Peace Council (WPC). The FBI has identified this organization as ‘the largest and most active Soviet international front organization, with affiliates in approximately 140 countries.’ The WPC worked through its U.S. supporting groups:  the U.S. Peace Council (USPC) and the Communist Party of the United States (CPUSA). Since the ‘C-word’ turns off many Americans, the WPM developed into many nice-sounding appealing organizations. Most of them were either controlled or influenced by the WPC. Since most of these groups contain members having undiluted contempt for the U.S., for capitalism, for individual freedom, and especially the U.S. military capabilities, it is not essential for the KGB or other Soviet agents…to control them. Without external control and minimum external influence they voluntarily performed their men-spirited missions, including discrediting Rocky Flats workers. All of this, of course, is done in the name of ‘peace.'”

“The WPM, almost since its inception in the 1920s, has been cursed with infiltrators from the political left, including infiltrations from the CPUSA. The pursuit of peace by true pacifists was conducted in such a way as to be willing to criticize and oppose all belligerents in…conflicts. Not so the WPM. Its motivations were and still are to discredit and dismantle the U.S. military capabilities, not those of the Soviets…”

“A major player in all of this anti-American activity is the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS)…This group has been very influential in promoting a decidedly anti-American agenda among the media, churches and clergy, and the Western Peace Movement on any number of issues has enjoyed the support of 100-200 members of Congress. It is no accident that these groups appear to be anti-American and critical of RF employees. They appear that way because they are that way, by design, training, and ideology.”

“An extraordinary debate about the nature of Pacifism has continued for 5 decades. A recent analysis of the debate was authored by Guenther Lewy…Lewy concludes, ‘While at one time pacifists were single-mindedly devoted to the principles of non-violence and reconciliation, today most pacifists groups defend the moral legitimacy of the armed struggle and guerrilla warfare, and they praise and support the Communist regimes emerging from such conflicts…”

“Finally, it comes as a surprise to many examining the peace issues to discover the existence of hundreds of peace groups in Eastern Europe. It is through their eyes that one can more clearly see the moral bankruptcy of the Western Peace Movement. People in these Eastern peace groups risked death itself fighting for their freedom through the use of the spoken and written word, and to rid themselves of their bestial tormentors, jailers, and murderers. Because the WPM is so heavily infused with Soviet apologists, it did not demand liberty, freedom, and civil rights for the people of Eastern Europe as a condition of nuclear disarmament of the West. In fact, the WPM ignored the appeals for human rights from Eastern groups….some leaders of the WPM forbade criticism of the Soviets.”

Citizens Against Nuclear Information in Denver (CANDID)

Posted on by

CANDID was formed by nuclear scientists and engineers frustrated by the flood of anti-Rocky Flats Plant rhetoric being spread by the ill-informed mainstream media and anti-nuclear groups following the highly publicized FBI raid in June 1989. The federal search warrant that authorized the raid quickly made it into news reports and articles that popularized allegations of midnight burning of plutonium contaminated wastes and illegal discharges of toxic wastes. Of course none of the allegations were found to be true, and none of them were mentioned in the guilty plea “bargain” the government forced on Rockwell to save the reputations of those who organized the raid. (A full discussion is available in my book “An Insider’s View of Rocky Flats, Urban Myths Debunked.) CANDID tried to balance the inaccuracies with fact-based articles and analysis.

The raid and allegations did succeed at poisoning the reputation of the plant and the people who worked there producing nuclear weapons components, including plutonium triggers. The people who protested the mission of the plant were encouraged to increase their rhetoric, and the news media fed it all to the readers and watchers. CANDID was established in the early 1990s in this atmosphere, and began publishing newsletters to present technical responses to refute some of the disinformation. This posting will discuss the purpose of CANDID from an article titled “Whether/Whiter CANDID?” published as Volume 2/Issue 10 in July 1992. There will be future postings based on many other articles that continue to have relevance today. There is consideration to making a link to the body of work by CANDID. The following are quotes from the CANDID article.

“Let’s revisit the original purpose of CANDID. As Citizens Against Nuclear Disinformation in Denver, we have attempted to correct some of the disinformation about Rocky Flats and its mission, as well as to bring scientific fact to bear on a lot of unscientific fiction. Our purpose has been to try to get the public, the politicians, and anti-nuclear/defense groups to approach technical issues with as little emotion as possible and to apply the scientific method to these technical problems. This has been extremely difficult, given the highly emotional issues of the morality of nuclear deterrence, the diversion of federal funds from other needs to the military/industrial complex, etc. Some folks have simplistically assumed that if they are ‘for’ peace, then anyone who disagrees with them is ‘for’ war, or at least greedy enough to take the chance of having a war for money…”

“But presumably these arguments are behind us. Now that the mission of Rocky Flats has changed from production of plutonium triggers for nuclear weapons to cleaning up the plant, the weapons issue has been eliminated…The planning process and actual cleanup in some areas has begun.”

“So what need is there for CANDID? This is easily answered. The technical issues still remain. The residue and backlog and waste backlog still remains. These materials must be processed at Rocky Flats or shipped elsewhere for processing. Every option is encumbered with seemingly insurmountable problems. People don’t want the material stored or processed at Rocky Flats, but don’t want it shipped on the highways or by railroad to any other site either…”

“All of which brings me to my main concern. The weapons issue is gone, but the environmental issues remain. The same mind-set exists with some environmental activists as with peace activists; if you’re not for their environmental package, you are against the environment…Making it impossible for RFP to operate has been the intent in the past during the Cold War years…with some of the ‘green movement’ devotees. As Petra Kelly of the German green movement put it, ‘Our objective is to make the Western democracies ungovernable.’ Hopefully, that is no longer the desire of any of the greens…we should be working towards the same end…But we are far apart on the means to accomplish this goal.”

“The bottom line is that we have a formidable task ahead of us…We all presumably have the same goal now, that of environmental remediation and economic conversion of the plant site. We are not going to have infinite resources to accomplish our goal. Let’s hope we can work together. Otherwise, we are going to spend all our resources on litigation and paper work, and the benefit to the environment–and mission transition at Rocky Flats–will only receive pocket change.”

“The greatest obstacle to progress is not ignorance but the illusion of knowledge.” (Historian Daniel Boorstein)

Military Reunion After Action Report

Posted on by

I was one of the 240 young men who reported to the 52nd Company of the U.S. Army Infantry Officers Candidate School (OCS) in September 1966.  Candidates were assigned to platoons mostly alphabetically, and I had the good fortune to be assigned to the Third Platoon. I say good fortune, because the platoon had an incredible assortment of talented candidates led by the most demanding Tactical (TAC) Officer, Lt. Paul R. Longgrear. The platoon dominated the weekly honor platoon competition, and scored the highest in other training competitions. About half of the candidates made it through the intensive six months of training and were commissioned as Second Lieutenants in a graduation ceremony held March 7, 1967.

Most of the new Army officers were assigned to the Infantry, but some of us were given commissions in branches such as the Chemical Corp, Army Intelligence Service, Military Police, and Finance. Most would serve at least one tour in Vietnam. A few of my fellow OCS graduates began working a few years back to locate everyone and gathering as many as possible for reunions. They especially wanted us to remember and honor the eleven young men, including one TAC officer, who died in combat.

Some of my fellow candidates from the Third Platoon recently arranged a reunion at a wonderful location in the area of Colorado that was the setting for a Zane Grey book “Riders of the Purple Sage.”  Ray and Kathy Heaton have a wonderful bed and breakfast about 6 miles from Dove Creek in Southwestern Colorado called Winterhawk Lodge B&B. The attendees were, alphabetically, Carl Jones, Kathy and Ray Heaton, Sheryl and I, Bob and Margarette (Butch) Holt, Dave Huebner, and Allen Hyman.  Carl and Dave won the distance driving award with their 2300 mile round trip. The Heatons provided us wonderful meals beginning with chili-frito pie the first evening (chili on top of fritos and topped with an assortment of condiments), cooked to order breakfasts including farm fresh eggs, sandwiches for lunch, and a delicious brisket the second evening. There was always plenty of coffee, tea, and lemonade. The hummingbirds were busy at the feeders all day, and a small herd of deer arrived one evening. You could safely say we had escaped the hustle and bustle of the city.

Winterhawk is in the center of much Southwest Colorado history. Ancient Puebloans had numerous settlements in the area, and Ray gave a tour to Hovenweep (a Ute/Paiute word that means deserted valley) National Park. There are remains of cut stone buldings estimated to have been constructed in the 1200’s. (Someone commented that the ancient ruins brought TAC officer Longgrear to mind.) The Anasasi (a Navajo word meaning Ancient ones or Ancient enemy, and a name not preferred by modern Puebloans) continue to have an influence on modern day Colorado. Beans cultivated from a several hundred year old stash left by the former residents are still grown in the area. The grain elevator in Dove Creek has a large painted sign that says, “Adobe Milling, Home of the Anasazi Beans.” Locals of the Dove Creek area say that the beans are good cooked with “collards and critters.”

Ray led another tour to Dolores Canyon Overlook, which is called the “Grand Canyon of Colorado.” We happened on Ray’s cousin Al Heaton with some ‘wannabe’ cowboys on a trail ride. Al operates the “East Pines Ranch,” which is over 100,000 acres. His crown jewel offering to guests is to let them do the hard work of helping him and his real cowboys move his cattle to winter range on a five day trip down the Dolores River (which brings to mind the two “City Slickers” movies).

Sheryl commented it was interesting to hear conversations about different memories of specific experiences during our six months together. There were also fasinating stories of what the different attendees did in service of the country and afterward. It was an honor to be with a few of my comrades for a short time again. Winterhawk is an ideal destination, and we will have fond memories of the reunion. I will close by quoting some words from the front of the pamphlet from the 40th anniversary reunion that was held at Fort Benning, “All gave some…some gave all.”

Financial Crisis–Part III

Posted on by

Parts one and two gave a historical perspective about government actions that paved the way for the crises that brought the economic system to the brink of collapse in 2008. In the spirit of “never let a crisis go to waste,” Congress reacted by passing the Dodd-Frank law after accusations such as, “See what happens when businesses aren’t adequately regulated.” The Dodd-Frank law requires 387 rules to be developed by 20 different regulatory agencies. The regulators have finalized 24 rules and have missed deadlines on 28. An article in ProPublica by Jesse Eisinger and Jake Bernstein details what the law was intended to accomplish and the problems that are being faced in developing the regulations. A few things the law was intended to accomplish have been at least partially put in place. A Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has been created, although the Obama administration hasn’t appoint a person to head the agency.  Outrage over executives being rewarded for taking risks that pushed their companies near or to failure resulted in rules that give shareholders a say on executive pay. The larger problem is in the 363 rules that remain to be developed and imposed.

Baring “proprietary trading” was central to the passage of the Dodd-Frank law. Banks leveraged heavily to speculate in bundled packages of subprime mortgage-backed securities and derivatives. The collapse of the value of those securities was central to the crisis. However, the rulemaking process for regulating derivatives has generated wide opposition. The Treasury Department has proposed some to be exempted from the regulations and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has issued an initial rule that will allow derivative trades under certain conditions. The rulemaking process has been so flawed that it “…has sparked a barrage of opposition, even from previously supportive legislators.”

Some believe that erroneous credit ratings given to mortgage-backed securities by the rating agencies was the root cause of the crisis, and losses from investments that had been given high ratings resulted in billions of dollars in losses. The Dodd-Frank law created a new regulatory structure for credit rating agencies, but the SEC has not fully staffed the new office. They also have indefinitely tabled a provision that holds the credit rating agencies legally liable for their ratings.

Regulators are dealing with complex issues while facing severe budget constraints, and many are saying they may not be able to carry out some key provisions. Wall Street is lobbying to blunt provisions it failed to defeat in the legislature. “Some wonder if Congress ordered regulators to do more than they could feasibly and legally accomplish.”

It is tempting to hope that the budget problems of the regulators and the intensity of lobbying will succeed at blunting the effects of the law, since there is a growing chorus of warnings that the law could damage American competitiveness. I would argue with the phrase “could damage.” I would replace it with “has damaged.” To fully appreciate how effective the government is, I only need to quote Milton Friedman, “If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in five years there will be a shortage of sand.”

The Financial Crisis–Part II

Posted on by

Eamon R. Moran has written a comprehensive and well-referenced, 97-page article for the University of North Carolina School of Law’s North Carolina Banking Institute Journal about the causes of the crisis.  In Part I of this blog I focused on the role of the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) of 1977.  This entry will focus on other regulations and acts that contributed to the mortgage meltdown.

Congress enacted many measures between 1980 and 2003 to make home ownership more attainable for moderate and low income borrowers.  Some of those measures included:

  • An act that preempted state ceilings on home mortgage loans and encouraged subprime loans
  • Another act that allowed adjustable rate mortgages, the loan of choice for subprime loans
  • Tax law was revised to made interest on home loans the only consumer loan that is tax deductible
  • HUD changed regulations so that borrowers no longer had to prove their incomes would remain stable
  • CRA was strengthened to impose fines and business penalties on banks that refused home loans to low income borrowers
  • Tax law was revised again to exempt most home sales from capital gains taxes

The outcome of these actions was that a borrower in California with an annual income of $14,000 was approved for a $720,000 home loan.  An investor in Minneapolis borrowed $2.4 million to buy ten properties, and all would go into foreclosure.  Financial institutions began bundling loans into complex packages, the rating agencies gave the packages AAA ratings, and the packages were sold around the world.  Millions of other examples such as these led to the eventual collapse of home values and created the crisis.

Congress leapt into action and passed a massive financial regulation while studiously ignoring the history of government’s role in creating the crisis.  The new laws will undoubtedly impede an economic recovery, and Congress will be given the opportunity to pass even more laws.