2 January 2001: Add comments.
28 December 2000: Add comment about recent photos.
27 December 2000: Add source of recent photos of Area 51.
27 December 2000. Thanks to DB.
Las Vegas Review-Journal (Las Vegas, NV)
December 16, 2000 Saturday FINAL EDITION
By KEITH ROGERS, REVIEW-JOURNAL
A Las Vegas man who worked at a classified Air Force installation claimed in a letter this week to Air Force Secretary F. Whitten Peters that a commander lied to a criminal investigator about disposal of toxic materials at the Groom Lake facility, known as Area 51.
The man, former Tech Sgt. Kevin Dye, made the allegation in an appeal Wednesday to Air Force officials, who have denied his request for a redacted copy of a classified, Environmental Protection Agency Criminal Investigation Division report.
Dye said Friday that national security regulations preclude him from elaborating on the details behind his allegation, but he said he is confident that the report contains information that could open the door for legal action against the Air Force by people with health problems who worked at the classified facility.
Dye's letter says, 'The report will confirm that Col. Craig P. Dunn 'lied' to the federal EPA agents, Senator Harry Reid ... and the state of Nevada concerning activities at the operating location he was assigned to as the commander.
'I know the location of all the sampling wells as well as the location of the burn pits and numerous other dumping locations, so I have a pretty good idea what was being inspected. Since I slept only 100 yards away from the burn pits for over five years, I feel this is of concern to me and my family,' it says.
Reached by telephone at his residence in the Las Vegas Valley, Dunn, who is retired from the Air Force, declined to comment on Dye's allegation, saying, 'That's not worth a comment.'
Dye's letter echoes claims by former Groom Lake workers who sued the federal government in 1994 because of illnesses they blame on the burning of hazardous wastes at what the White House refers to as 'the operating location near Groom Lake.' In February, U.S. District Judge Philip Pro unsealed a censored transcript from a 1995 court hearing in the case and ordered payment of about $ 200,000 in attorneys' fees to plaintiff Stella Kasza, a widow of one of the workers.
In his letter, Dye also alleges that another Air Force official, Eugene Boesch, director of Security and Special Program Oversight, 'has lied to you.'
'They may be playing with semantics to protect their jobs but it still is a lie,' Dye said, explaining in the letter that President Clinton's Feb. 1 letter to Congress regarding the Groom Lake facility's exemption from any hazardous waste laws, in Dye's words, 'does not allow for Air Force officers to lie or cover up illegal activities to the EPA, members of Congress, or the people of the state of Nevada.'
Dye's one-page letter goes on to say, 'Please understand my job is not on the line and I'm not trying to protect anything, so you choose whether you want to know the truth, or continue these lies until another day.'
An Air Force spokesman at the Pentagon would not comment on the specifics of Dye's letter or any of his allegations, saying Peters has not yet received the letter titled 'memorandum for record.'
'When the secretary receives the letter, he will act upon it. The secretary of the Air Force will consider the appeal in a timely manner, and he will take action on the appeal and let Mr. Dye know as soon as a decision is made,' said the spokesman, Capt. Joe Della Vedova.
The Air Force has denied a similar Freedom of Information Act request by the Review-Journal seeking information regarding EPA Special Agent in Charge Scott West's investigation at Groom Lake that was conducted from 1996 to 1998. The newspaper is appealing that denial.
In May, Dye and another whistle-blower, Forrest Darby, a former contract worker at Nellis Air Force Range, made public their claims that Dunn retaliated against them after they contacted their congressmen to report problems at classified facilities.
Darby has said he was denied access to Area 51 because he reported a safety problem to former Rep. Jim Bilbray, D-Nev., in 1994 regarding transportation of workers to remote, classified facilities in the Nellis complex.
Dye has said his top-secret clearance had been improperly revoked when he sent letters to U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Rep. Bob Clement, D-Tenn., reporting a promotion scam in which he said a helicopter pilot had falsified job qualifications in order to move up in rank.
Dye's commanders revoked his security clearance, claiming he was a security risk because he used his unit's secret identifier in letters to Reid and Clement. An administrative law judge later ruled in Dye's favor, saying the commander's action to revoke Dye's top-secret clearance was improper.
Copyright 2000 DR Partners d/b Las Vegas Review-Journal
Date: Wed, 27 Dec 2000 15:58:28 -0600
To: jya@pipeline.com
From: AllSouthwest News Service <editor@allsouthwest.com>
Subject: Area 51
Noticed your article today that was from the LVJ on area 51. I have recently returned from an investigative trip to this government facilty. It is one of the most secure sites I have ever encountered. The following is a link to some of the pictures we took while there. Note the chemical drums in the picture entitled chemical.gif. These were just inside the fence line with no protection. Apparently bio and chemical hazards mean nothing to the US Air Force and government as proven in the case with former Tech Sgt. Kevin Dye. Feel free to link to the pictures URL if you wish.
http://www.allsouthwest.com/51/
Sincerely
David Palmquist
Editor, AllSouthwest News Service
From: "Derek Schroeder"
<schroederd@w-link.net>
To: <jya@pipeline.com>
Subject: Area 51 Chemicals
Date: Thu, 28 Dec 2000 08:24:00 -0800
Comment about the chemical drums in chemical.gif taken by AllSouthwest News Service. Big deal, so they have a couple empty drums that used to contain firefighting foam (3% AFFF) sitting by the fence.
From: "Cypher,James"
<James.Cypher@DPU.state.ma.us>
To: "'jya@pipeline.com'" <jya@pipeline.com>
Subject: Area 51 chemicals
Date: Fri, 29 Dec 2000 14:58:47 -0500
Very interesting... I heard that the chemicals burned in the pits may have been from radar absorbing materials used for stealth coatings on planes outside surfaces. They contain an interesting blend of chemicals to create the desired effect.
Below is a useful link.
http://www.randf.com/ramapriaas.html
Another is www.chomerics.com
Chomerics was formerly part of WR Grace in Woburn Mass., a company made famous for the Woburn Wells poisoning case as seen in the book and the film, "A Civil Action". Children died of leukemia after drinking the tainted water.
Jim Cypher
From: "Jesse & Sandy Sollien" <sjrsandy@uswest.net>
To: <jya@pipeline.com>
Subject: Chemical barrels at Area 51
Date: Mon, 1 Jan 2001 15:33:01 -0800
AFFF is harmless. I'm an officer in the army and I work at an army airfield in Washington- we are exposed to the stuff all the time. No one has ever complained. No health risks have ever been reported.
-Jesse Sollien
CPT, USA