Kristen Iversen

The FBI raid occurred on June 6, 1989 and it was lead by FBI agent Jon Lipsky and EPA investigator William Stone. It was the only time in the history of our country that two government agencies have raided another agency. Very dramatic. There was a lot going on at the plant that people didn’t know about. There had been over 200 fires at Rocky Flats and extensive radioactive contamination over the Denver Metro area. Also, more than 5000 barrels filled with plutonium-laced materials leaked into the ground. The bottoms of the barrels rusted out because they stood out for 11 years in the open. The public was not warned. There was also a remarkable product called “pond crete.” They had too much plutonium waste and there was no place to ship it. They didn’t have safe storage so they took plutonium and mixed it with concrete and tried to harden it into these one-ton blocks. There were more than 16,000 one-ton blocks of “pond crete.” They were the size of small refrigerators. They stood out in the open and never solidified.

The FBI put together a secret raid and that raid led to a two-year grand jury investigation. After almost two years of listening to experts, the jurors wanted to make endictements. What happened instead is that a deal was cut with the Department of Justice and there were no endictements. Jurors were incensed. Rockwell (then-owner of the Rocky Flats) was require to pay an $18.5 million fine. The fine was less than what the company was paid that year in bonuses.

There are more than 6000 acres at the site now, and they’re building homes next to the site on contaminated land. Of that 6000 acres, 1300 are so profoundly contaminated that they can never open to the public. Plutonium has a half life of 24,100 years. That means it’s dangerous for roughly 50,000 years. Plutonium has been detected in bodies of deer, and veterinarians report a higher rate of cancer in dogs in particular. The land should never be open to the public in my opinion. My brother was out at Stanley Lake with his two dogs playing in the water. An officer came around with a bullhorn and told him to get his dogs out of the water because it’s drinking water. They said it was because of the dog hair.  But there is plutonium in the sediment, and they don’t want people to stir it up. It’s not common knowledge, but it’s a fact. Theres no signage.

People in Colorado don’t realize what a big deal Rocky Flats is. Not just to us but to the rest of the world. Its secrecy continues to present day. There have always been very strong business and home building interests in that area. There’s a lot of money at stake. In the beginning, the secrecy was for the Cold War. The ongoing secrecy continues today because of business and the economy. It’s prime building real estate.”