Monthly Archives: May 2016

Settlement Reached in Homeowner Lawsuit Against Rocky Flats

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Two operators of the Rocky Flats Plant have agreed to settle a lawsuit filed by nearby homeowners in 1990 after the Justice Department raid of the plant. The announced settlement is $375 million. The homeowners had accused Rockwell International (now owned by Boeing) and Dow Chemical of devaluing their property with plutonium releases. The settlement, if it is approved by a federal judge, would involve as many as 15,000 homeowners in an area involving neighborhoods surrounding Standley Lake. The people who owned property in that area must have owned the home on June 7, 1989, which was the first day of the Justice Department raid. Anyone who sold their property before that date or bought property after that date will be excluded. Approval of the settlement and establishing a claims process could be “months away.”

There are several aspects of the settlement that make no sense to me. A jury ruled in favor of the plaintiffs in 2006 after at least one juror who had been against that ruling was thrown off the case after complaining to the judge about harassment from those who favored the ruling. The primary “evidence” that had been presented was that (and I give attribution to someone else who offered this) was that “…the FBI had raided the plant, thus something bad HAD to have been going on…and lots of people had negative things to say about the plant…” The judge awarded $926 million, but the award was thrown out by the appeals court based on improper instructions from the judge. The rejection was based on the fact that an irrational fear was not adequate proof of harm. The Supreme Court refused to take the case. Thus we have the mystery of why Dow and Rockwell agreed to a settlement when it had been legally determined the plaintiffs weren’t damaged unless the plaintiffs went back to trial and proved damage they couldn’t prove in the first trial.

One part of the answer to why the two companies settled is that the Department of Energy is expected to pay the bill because federal contract law indemnifies the companies. DOE agreed to the settlement, so taxpayers will ultimately pay something to about 15,000 homeowners after the attorneys subtract their nice multimillion dollar fee from the total award. There’s at least one more mystery. Most actual environmental damage occurred while Dow was managing the plant and Rockwell has agreed to pay most of the settlement.

See my book “An Insider’s View of Rocky Flats, Urban Myths Debunked” if you want to learn more about releases from the plant and the raid. The Kindle version costs $3.99, and it has some great pictures including two different kinds of multi-kilogram plutonium ingots. You might want to entertain yourself by reading 25 reviews of the book on Amazon. The reviews can serve as a primer for the controversies surrounding the Rocky Flats Plant. One review gives the book a “Poorly written” one star. Another gives it a “Good Read” and five stars. (The average of the 25 is 4 stars.)

After that bit of self promotion, perhaps the judge will refuse to approve the settlement, which I believe would be the reasonable thing to do. However, I’ve learned there is seldom anything that is based on reason when it involves the Rocky Flats Plant. I observe in my book that the real cause of fear from landowners around Rocky Flats was the raid, which found nothing that hadn’t already been known and didn’t identify anything that should concern the neighbors of the plant. I would agree if the settlement had been made against the Justice Department officials who raided the plant based on bad information and then didn’t have the courage to admit they had been duped.

Writing on the Wall

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Quora.com posts an explanation for the origin of the expression, which refers to “…any bad omen that predicts a bad outcome,” after warning that both Albert Einstein and Abraham Lincoln both said, “Don’t believe quotes on the Internet.” Perhaps that is a hint the explanation that is given might not be accurate, but it is interesting. According to Chapter 5 of the Book of Daniel in the bible King Belshazzar sees strange words written on a wall (apparently by the hand of God). Daniel interprets to words to mean “Numbered, numbered, weighed, divided.” The “writing on the wall” was further interpreted to mean there were plans to invade and divide the kingdom.

Let Science Rule on Flats Access

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The controversy continues over whether cities and counties will contribute to construction of a bridge and underpass for hiker and animal access to the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge. Failure to contribute could kill the Rocky Mountain Greenway Trail, which would eventually connect the Rocky Mountain Arsenal and Rocky Flats Refuges to Rocky Mountain National Park. A recent Denver Post editorial gives an excellent summary of the issue. It says that critics, “…simply do not trust assurances from federal and state officials that the area is safe and the cleanup has been successful. Basically, they don’t trust the available science. This is par for the course for activists who have been pushing exaggerated claims of plutonium contamination around Rocky Flats for decades, but it’s sad to see local officials buying into it.”

Some cities and counties are planning to collect soil samples of the area “to determine whether the trail would be safe” I sent a letter agreeing with most of the editorial, but warning that the results of sampling will be meaningless unless they are compared to samples taken by the exact techniques from some city parks and trails that are considered to be “safe areas.” What will be found is that all of Colorado contains plutonium fallout contamination. An extensive study of transuranics in the environment completed about 1980 found the entire earth is contaminated with plutonium. Denver is in the latitude that had some of the highest average plutonium levels. I predict the area of the project will have virtually the same amount of plutonium as samples from local cities or from the western or eastern areas of the state. Only if they make the mistake of sampling ski areas will there be much of a difference. Snowfall efficiently washes plutonium fallout out of the atmosphere.

Dead Ringer

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This is one of the most famous expressions that is attributed to a fanciful (i.e. false) origin. Mentalfloss.com explains the tall tale is that digging up coffins to reused grave space found many with scratch marks, which indicated the people were buried alive. The alleged solution was to install a string to the wrist of the corpse and attach it to a bell. People sat in the graveyard to listen to a bell ringing as a plea for help. The truth is that a “safety coffin,” which monitored the corpse for movement and triggered a bell and waved a flag, was patented in the 19th century. The expression actually originated from substituting a look-alike horse in a race or athlete in a sporting event. The talented look-alike was the “dead ringer.” “Dead” refers to “absolute, exact, complete” while “ringer” originally was the person arranging the swap and later came to mean the substituted competitor.

Renewable Energy’s Secret

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The title is from an article in the Denver Post published in November 2015 which described bird deaths from the Iyanpah Solar Generating System in the Mojave Desert and wind turbines in Central California’s Altamont Pass. The article describes how two scientists published accounts of very large numbers of birds being incinerated when flying into the area of the solar system or killed when flying into the path of the wind turbines. A concerted effort was made by alternative energy companies to dismiss the data based on the accusation it was the result of “data dredging—teasing out statistical patterns that may not exist.”

A recent news report makes me suspicious there might have been some truth in the data presented by the two scientists. “The Obama administration is revising a federal rule that allows wind-energy companies to operate high-speed wind turbines for up to 30 years, even if it means killing or injuring thousands of federally protected bald and golden eagles…Under the plan…wind companies and other power providers could kill or injure up to 4,200 bald eagles a year without penalty—nearly four times the current limit. Golden eagles could be killed (apparently without limits) if companies take steps to minimize the losses…” The Fish and Wildlife Service Director said the proposal would “…provide a path forward for maintaining eagle populations while also spurring development of a pollution-free energy source that’s intended to ease global warming… (and) help the country reduce its reliance on fossil fuels such as coal and oil that contribute to global warming.”

I find it quite curious that the government is proposing allowing environmental damage to address environmental damage.

American Dreamer: The Life and Times of Henry A. Wallace

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american-dreamerI obtained this book through the interlibrary loan system with the single purpose of checking out an original reference for the book I’m writing about the Rocky Flats Plant during the Cold War. I was surprised that the book has over 600 pages, checked the page with the reference I wanted, and then began skimming it. Much to my surprise the book drew me in. For those unfamiliar with him, Henry Agard Wallace was a fascinating character. He grew up in a farm family that published a newspaper that focused on farming and political issues associated with farming. He was raised to be a completely moral Christian, and seldom allowed even the most vicious political attacks he would eventually suffer later in his public life to stir him to do more than offer a reasoned defense.

Most people probably know something about Wallace because John Nance Garner, Franklin Roosevelt’s Vice President for his first two terms, strongly opposed FDR running for a third term. (Garner had been chosen as the Vice President in a deal that allowed FDR to receive his first nomination by the Democratic Party. FDR and Garner were polar opposites, and my impression is that they detested each other and went out of their way to avoid the need to have any contact.) A large slate of candidates wanted to have the VP slot, but FDR chose Wallace.

FDR had chosen Wallace to be his Secretary of Agriculture during his first two terms despite the fact Wallace was a Republican. Party difference was immaterial, because Wallace was a strong Progressive. He also was a brilliant man who studied and comprehended the role of genetics in crop yields. He and his wife formed a hybrid corn seed business that eventually made them wealthy. The chickens he bred eventually provided a substantial portion of eggs to the nation and the world.

Some of the most interesting parts of the book are about the key role Wallace played in his position of Secretary of Agriculture in the New Deal during years when famers were being crushed by the Great Depression. Fans of small government will be astonished and disturbed at the growth and reach of his department. His first personnel action was to appoint Milton Eisenhower, Ike’s brother, head of information services with instructions “…to transform the department immediately into a vast action agency to restore parity of income to American farmers.” The primary focus of the many government actions taken under Wallace’s leadership was to improve farm income by the “…promotion of planned scarcity.” Wheat was the easiest crop for the new strategy, because many wheat growing areas were experiencing a crushing drought. “It would not be necessary to plow under growing wheat; nature had done it—unequally, cruelly, to be sure, but decisively…” Millers and bakers didn’t like the new processing tax that paid expenses for the new program until they understood they could blame the price increases on the government. Continue reading →