Story Index | Area 51 Photos | Area 51 Maps

EPA did inspect Groom Lake base

Federal environmental investigators have for the first time inspected the classified Groom Lake air base in Lincoln County, according to federal court documents.

From December 1994 to mid-March, workers with the Environmental Protection Agency inspected the so-called Area 51 air base at Groom Lake, which is said to have been used to test such military aircraft as the Lockheed U-2 spy plane, the SR-71 Blackbird and the F-117 stealth fighter.

One of two lawsuits filed in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas by former base workers and their families accuses the EPA of violating federal laws by failing to monitor the open-pit burning of hazardous chemicals at Groom Lake.

Contradicting EPA's claims that it has no workers with the security clearance

to inspect the air base, Justice Department defense lawyers wrote in a March 22 memo to Judge Philip Pro that inspectors have in fact visited the facility.

"EPA have notified undersigned counsel that EPA recently completed the on-site RCRA (Resource Conservation and Recovery Act) inspection of the operating location near Groom Lake, that EPA has briefed the Air Force as to the findings of the RCRA inspections, and that EPA currently is making final revisions to a written report regarding the inspection's findings," wrote attorneys Russell Young and Richard Sarver.

Neither EPA nor Air Force officials would comment Wednesday on whether inspectors have obtained higher security clearance for access to Groom Lake or whether clearance standards on base were lowered to accommodate them.

Officials from both agencies also would not comment on the environmental inspection report, citing a rarely used legal privilege allowing the Defense Department to conceal unclassified documents to protect national security.

"The report is being reviewed for classification purposes," said Jim Sweeney, a Justice Department spokesman. "We can't get into the details or the results."

Questions have been raised about who will enforce environmental standards at Groom Lake should the EPA continue its inspections. The Presidential Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments is drafting recommendations that enforcement be handled by Congress or the White House.

"What we're seeing here is the making of environmental law. This case will be critical on how oversight at secret military projects will be carried out," said Steve Aftergood, a government secrecy expert with the Federation of American Scientists. "If it takes a lawsuit to compel the EPA to do its job, then we need a lot more lawsuits."

Reno-based activist Grace Bukowski of the Rural Alliance for Military Accountability also welcomed news of the Groom Lake inspections.

"Hopefully, Nevadans will now have the opportunity to find out the true story.

If they're burning toxins and hazardous materials, the government needs to know it's not above the law," she said.

The state Environmental Protection Division has been conducting an ongoing environmental investigation at Groom Lake since 1993.