Open Groom hearings, TV station urges judge

Warren Bates
Review-Journal

A Las Vegas television station has asked a federal judge to open up hearings on a lawsuit brought against the federal government by former workers of the U.S. Air Force's operating location near Groom Lake.

KLAS-TV, Channel 8, has asked U.S. District Judge Philip Pro to unseal a transcript of a June 20 hearing in which the workers' attorney, Jonathan Turley, was ordered to surrender files to protect military secrets.

Turley previously failed to get Pro to order the hearing unsealed. The lawsuit centers on former base workers who claim they were exposed to toxic fumes from open-pit burning of hazardous waste.

Last week, the government obtained a presidential exemption that keeps secret all aspects of projects at the base, 35 miles west of Alamo.

Attorney Christopher Byrd, who prepared KLAS's request, argued that common law and the First Amendment guarantee media and public access to court hearings and files "improperly shielded from public scrutiny."

He argued that Pro's order sealing the hearings was "narrowly tailored" to serve the government's "general and unsubstantiated claims of national security."

The court, he said, has control over sealed documents that were previously part of the public domain.

Byrd argued the government has to prove that "only total secrecy" can protect national security to keep the hearing and files sealed. His motion said that if an option friendlier to openness were available, such as editing, that route should be taken.

Nevada citizens, he argued, had a compelling interest in the hearing and files because of the health-related nature of the allegations.