Rocky Flats operators lied, lawyers say

[struggle4progress]

By Karen Abbott, Rocky Mountain News
October 11, 2005

Operators of the Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant lied to the public about dangers at the plant for decades and still haven't come clean, lawyers for thousands of plant neighbors told a dozen federal jurors Tuesday.

"Half-truths, lies and distortions ... continue up to and including the present," attorney Merrill Davidoff of Philadelphia said as the neighbors' $500 million class-action trial got underway 15 years after the lawsuit was filed.

Besides covering up accidents, mishandling of toxic wastes and other errors, Davidoff said former plant operators Dow Chemical Co. and Rockwell International, and the U.S. Department of Energy that employed them, have refused to account publicly for 2,600 pounts of radioactive plutonium that went missing from Rocky Flats during the 37 years that the plant made nuclear weapons.

Lawyers for the two companies sued by the neighbors will present their opening statements to the jury on Wednesday. <snip>

http://rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_4150223,00.html