Contractors say they’re unaware of Area 51 probe

Mary Manning and Rachael Levy

Friday, Aug. 9, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

Three military contractors say they have no knowledge of a federal investigation into environmental crimes allegedly committed at a classified military base in Southern Nevada.

Reynolds Electric & Engineering Co., Wackenhut and Applied Physics Laboratory of Johns Hopkins University said Thursday that they were unaware of the 20-month-long criminal investigation at Area 51.

On Wednesday the Justice Department accidentally revealed the existence of the investigation into former workers' claims that hazardous wastes were burned in open pits throughout the 1980s.

Government sources said that REECo, Wackenhut, Applied Physics Laboratory and EG&G held military contracts at the base during that time. Located 125 miles northwest of Las Vegas, the base -- also known as Groom Lake -- once housed the top-secret Stealth fighter and U-2 spy planes.

"No, we are not involved in any investigation with the Department of Justice or the EPA," Wackenhut spokesman Patrick Kannan said Thursday.

His strong assertion of ignorance was echoed by Applied Physics and REECo.

"We've never been asked for anything," REECo spokesman Dale Frasier said.

Applied Physics spokeswoman Dee Reese said the lab had no knowledge of any projects at the secret base.

EG&G did not return a telephone call.

In a brief filed Wednesday in Las Vegas federal court, prosecutor James Morgulec asked that a court order prohibiting federal contact with the workers be lifted so the case could be wrapped up.

The workers sought the court order to protect their identities after they filed two civil lawsuits against the EPA and Air Force for health problems they allegedly suffered as a result of contact with the burning chemicals.

The first case was dismissed by a federal judge who said that it fell outside his jurisdiction and the other compromised national security. The workers have said they will appeal the dismissals.

Their attorney, Jonathan Turley, a professor with George Washington University's Environmental Crimes Project, said the government's effort to contact a worker amounts to harassment.

He worries that the Justice Department wants to prosecute the workers for revealing classified information. By this time the statute of limitations would have expired on any environmental crimes that may have occurred, he added.

"We are confident that none of these workers could be charged with the actual environmental crimes that they witnessed at Area 51," he said. "That was never a concern of counsel in our negotiations. Our only concern was an act of retaliation after the workers stepped forward and identified themselves to the very agency which has been accused of criminal conduct."

The Washington, D.C., attorney filed a memorandum today to sanction Morgulec for failing to follow federal court rules.

Efforts to gain immunity for Turley's clients in exchange for testimony were not successful. Morgulec declined to comment.

Turley said the government's reluctance to grant immunity caused the case to move forward at a glacial pace and ultimately let the prosecution's clock run out on military officials and government contractors who may have authorized the illegal burning.

"The government was allowing these individuals to escape," Turley said.