A SECRET AIR BASE BROKE THE LAW ON WASTE

Internet UFO Group Media Archive

From:psychospy@aol.com
Title:A SECRET AIR BASE BROKE THE LAW ON WASTE
Source:Wall Street Journal
Date:Feburary 08, 1996


A Secret Air Base Broke the Law on Waste,

Lawsuit Alleges; Government Stonewalls

By MARGARET A. JACOBS

Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal

LAS VEGAS -- One day two years before he died, Helen Frost says, her

husband,

Robert, returned from his sheet-metal job at a top-secret Air Force base

with flaming-red

skin that soon began peeling off his face.

''He was a pretty tough guy, but he burst through the door yelling in

fear,'' she recalls.

''Every hour, I'd have to take a washcloth'' and take off some more skin.

Mrs. Frost is one of two widows who, along with four former civilian

workers, are

suing the Defense Department in a so-called citizen's lawsuit (rather than

a claim for tort

damages). They contend that it violated federal hazardous-waste law by

repeatedly

burning ordinary chemicals and highly toxic classified materials in open

pits at the base,

which is located 125 miles northwest of Las Vegas and is commonly called

Area 51.

The workers, who say their exposure to toxic fumes throughout the 1980s

caused health

problems ranging from skin lesions to cancer, are seeking information to

facilitate

medical treatment and help with medical bills but no other monetary

damages. As

employees of government subcontractors, which aren't named in the lawsuit,

some of

the plaintiffs say they have no medical insurance. They also want a court

order requiring

the government to follow the law and dispose of such waste safely. They

themselves

can't bring criminal charges.

So far, the government refuses to confirm or deny their allegations or to

respond to their

request for criminal prosecution. Instead, it asked U.S. District Judge

Philip Pro, who

is overseeing the case in Las Vegas, to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing that

almost any

disclosure about Area 51 could pose a ''serious risk'' to national

security.