Hazardous-waste dumping ground

Courtesy of Dreamland Resort

While the government was denying that there was a secret facility at Area 51, many observers saw people being shuttled in and out of Las Vegas's McCarran Airport on a daily basis. From a private terminal, used solely by defense contractor EG&G, white Boeing 737s, unmarked except for the red stripe down the body and the identifying tail number, are reported to operate a daily shuttle service to and from the federally controlled lands in southern Nevada, such as Groom Lake, Tonopah Test Range and Area 51. Each of these planes uses a radio call sign beginning with JANET which is said to be an acronym for "Joint Air Network for Employees." You can often find ads in Las Vegas-area papers stating that EG&G is looking for experienced airline pilots who must be able to obtain a government security clearance.

There are reported to be thousands of people who travel to Area 51 for work every day. Many people believe that the most sinister aspect of Area 51 is not what possibly could be occurring with aliens or alien spacecraft, but what is being done to the employees. Jonathan Turley, a lawyer for Area 51 employees, states that in many ways the government invited the UFO hysteria because it denied what was really occurring there. In his opinion, the greatest danger to the employees was the government.

Courtesy of the Federation of American Scientists

In 1989, a sheet metal worker named Robert Frost was working at Area 51 and was one of thousands said to be commuting to the area everyday via a JANET 737. Within a short time, Frost developed a painful skin condition that caused skin to peel off of his face and blisters to develop all over his body. When Frost visited a doctor to determine what was causing the painful condition, he was told he had a type of toxic poisoning that could be treated only if the specific toxins are known. Supervisors at the facility refused to tell him what type of poisoning they were subjected to, and soon other employees started to develop similar symptoms. Without proper treatment, Robert Frost died. The remaining employees and their families were understandably upset so they contacted attorney Jonathan Turley. The group asked Turley to help them determine what was going on at Area 51. They were not looking for money; they simply wanted to know why their friend had died and if they had been exposed and were going to die too. Fearful of reprisals from the government that had sworn them to secrecy, the employees are listed on court documents as John Doe 1-6.

During his investigation, Turley learned that Area 51 generated large amounts of hazardous waste in the top-secret activities taking place. Because this facility was not supposed to exist, they could not ship out the hazardous waste to dispose of it properly. The waste was placed inside 55-gallon drums which were then placed inside football-field size trenches and doused in aviation fuel to set them on fire. Hazardous waste is more dangerous when it is burned and released into the air because this allows for easier contamination of the human body. The employees stated that this hazardous waste fog would blow through the site directly to where many of them worked.

In 1995, the workers finally got their day in court; however, by that time one of the John Does had died; the man who replaced Robert Frost after his death. In the beginning of the trial, the government adamantly denied the existence of Area 51. After much deliberation, the government admitted that there was a secret testing facility at Groom Lake; however, even to this day they have denied that it is called Area 51. In an unfortunate ending for the John Does, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the types of toxic substances used at the base cannot be revealed. This ruling was based on Presidential Determination 95-45, which exempts the Air Force operating location at Groom Lake from all federal environmental law.