Rocky Flats Plant: Difference between revisions

On June 6, 1989, the United States District Court for the District Court of Colorado issued a search warrant to the FBI, based in part on information collected by Colorado Department of Health (now CDPHE) inspectors during the 1980s. Dubbed "Operation Desert Glow", the raid, sponsored by the [[United States Department of Justice]] (DOJ), began at 9 a.m. on June 6<!--, 1989-->.<ref name="lat1">{{cite news | url = https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-08-08-tm-21814-story.html | work = Los Angeles Times | first = Barry | last = Siegel | title = Showdown at Rocky Flats : When Federal Agents Take On a Government Nuclear-Bomb Plant, Lines of Law and Politics Blur, and Moral Responsibility Is Tested | date = August 8, 1993}}</ref><ref name=rainuc>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=e61jAAAAIBAJ&sjid=m-EDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6931%2C1633585 |work=Eugene Register-Guard |location=(Oregon) |agency=(Los Angeles Times) |title=FBI raids nuclear weapons plant |date=June 7, 1989 |page=13A}}</ref><ref name=dnapacc>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=yvUnAAAAIBAJ&sjid=54MDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6874%2C2637260 |work=Deseret News |location=(Salt Lake City, Utah) |agency=Associated Press |title=Agents take records as probe of Rocky Flats N-plant begins |date=June 7, 1989 |page=A4}}</ref> After arriving in the meeting room, the FBI agents revealed the true reason for the meeting to stunned DOE and Rockwell officials, including Dominic Sanchini, Rockwell International's manager of Rocky Flats, who died the next year in Boulder of cancer.<ref name="lat1"/><ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.orlandosentinel.com/1990/11/22/dominick-sanchini/ | title = Dominick Sanchini | publisher = Orlando Sentinel | date = 1990-11-22 | access-date = 2016-01-31}}</ref> The FBI discovered numerous violations of federal anti-[[pollution]] laws, including limited<ref name="hobbs2010"/> contamination of water and soil. In 1992, Rockwell International was charged with environmental crimes, including violations of the [[Resource Conservation and Recovery Act]] (RCRA) and the Clean Water Act. Rockwell pleaded guilty and paid an $18.5 million fine. This was the largest fine for an environmental crime to that date.

The FBI raid led to the formation of Colorado's first [[Grand Jury#Current usage in the United States|special grand jury]] in 1989, the juried testimony of 110 witnesses, reviews of 2,000 exhibits, and ultimately a 1992 plea agreement in which Rockwell admitted to 10 federal environmental crimes and agreed to pay $18.5 million in fines out of its own funds.  This amount was less than the company had been paid in bonuses for running the plant as determined by the [[Government Accounting Office]] (GAO), and yet was also by far the highest hazardous-waste fine ever; four times larger than the previous record.<ref>{{cite news | url = https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-08-15-tm-24105-story.html | work = Los Angeles Times | first = Barry | last = Siegel | title = Showdown at Rocky Flats : The Justice Department had negotiated a Rocky Flats settlement, but the grand jury could not keep quiet about what happened there | date = August 15, 1993}}</ref>  Due to indemnification of nuclear contractors, without some form of settlement being arrived at between the U.S. Justice Department and Rockwell, the cost of paying any civil penalties would ultimately have been borne by U.S. taxpayers.  While any criminal penalties allotted to Rockwell would not have been covered, for its part Rockwell claimed that the Department of Energy had specifically exempted them from most environmental laws, including [[hazardous waste]].<ref name="Hardesty2006">{{cite web | url = http://www.ocregister.com/articles/lipsky-23558-flats-rocky.html | title = Retired FBI agent helped close nuclear-weapons site | work = [[The Orange County Register]] | date = March 29, 2006 | access-date = September 17, 2011 | author = Hardesty, Greg}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | last = Calhoun | first = Patricia | url = http://www.westword.com/content/printVersion/224917/ | archive-url = https://archive.today/20120919150651/http://www.westword.com/content/printVersion/224917/ | url-status = dead | archive-date = September 19, 2012 | title = True Lies | publisher = Westword | date = 2004-08-19 | access-date = 2016-01-31 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url = https://www.nytimes.com/1992/03/27/us/us-shares-blame-in-abuses-at-a-plant.html | work = [[The New York Times]] | first = Keith | last = Schneider | title = U.S. Shares Blame in Abuses at A-Plant | date = March 27, 1992}}</ref><ref name="lat1"/><ref name="Siegel">{{cite news | url = https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-08-15-tm-24105-story.html | work = Los Angeles Times | first = Barry | last = Siegel | title = Showdown at Rocky Flats : The Justice Department had negotiated a Rocky Flats settlement, but the grand jury could not keep quiet about what happened there | date = August 15, 1993}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url = https://www.nytimes.com/1989/09/23/us/rockwell-is-giving-up-rocky-flats-plant.html | work = [[The New York Times]] | first = Matthew L. | last = Wald | title = Rockwell Is Giving Up Rocky Flats Plant | date = September 23, 1989}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url = https://www.nytimes.com/1992/03/27/us/us-shares-blame-in-abuses-at-a-plant.html?pagewanted=3 | work = [[The New York Times]] | title = U.S. Shares Blame in Abuses at A-Plant | date = March 27, 1992}}</ref>