Area 51: new name, still secrets
January 25, 2008 | 11:41
am
The Air Force Times is reporting that everyone's favorite top-secret government installation near a dry lake in Nevada has a new name: Area 51 is now Homey Airport.
Obviously, the conspiracy theorists and UFO buffs have made Area 51 a significant part of popular culture. But in Nevada, Area 51 is a very real place that has given rise to very real concern.
For example, in the Review-Journal this morning there is an interview with law professor Jonathan Turley. Turley represented two deceased workers and other former employees of the nonexistent military base who claimed they were injured while serving their country at Area 51. The workers think their illnesses may have come from burning pits of chemical toxins used to coat stealth jets. Such open-pit burning would violate all sorts of environmental laws.
Obviously, the conspiracy theorists and UFO buffs have made Area 51 a significant part of popular culture. But in Nevada, Area 51 is a very real place that has given rise to very real concern.
For example, in the Review-Journal this morning there is an interview with law professor Jonathan Turley. Turley represented two deceased workers and other former employees of the nonexistent military base who claimed they were injured while serving their country at Area 51. The workers think their illnesses may have come from burning pits of chemical toxins used to coat stealth jets. Such open-pit burning would violate all sorts of environmental laws.
So, what was the government's response?
In 1995, President Clinton signed the first exemption preventing any information about what the workers may have breathed at the officially nonexistent base from entering the court system. Turley tells the Review-Journal: "As humorous as this naming may be, it produces very bitter feelings among those of us who have tried to disclose the crimes at that facility. . . . Whatever its name is, it will remain a symbol of how the government has the ability to avoid accountability for environmental crimes."
In 1995, President Clinton signed the first exemption preventing any information about what the workers may have breathed at the officially nonexistent base from entering the court system. Turley tells the Review-Journal: "As humorous as this naming may be, it produces very bitter feelings among those of us who have tried to disclose the crimes at that facility. . . . Whatever its name is, it will remain a symbol of how the government has the ability to avoid accountability for environmental crimes."
For those of you who think that Nevadans' united and strong opposition to the proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain by the government is a provincial "not in my backyard" sentiment, please take this recent bit of local history into account.
