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Area-51: Still Above the Law
By Dennis Balthaser
October 9, 2003

Since 1955 the United States has developed and maintained a secret
military base 85 miles northwest of Las Vegas, Nevada, known by several
names, such as Groom Lake, Dreamland, the Box and the most popular name,
"Area 51." This is no small piece of real estate in the Nevada desert,
but rather a land area the size of the state of Connecticut, containing
an even larger restricted air space. President Dwight D. Eisenhower
signed an executive order on August 19, 1955, restricting the air space
over Groom Lake, Nevada, which is still heavily in force today.

Originally set up to test the U-2 reconnaissance airplane by the CIA, it
has served as a test facility for nearly every newly developed aircraft
since then including; the A-10, A-12, Stealth F-117, B-1 and B-2 bomber.
Whatever has come off of the design drawing boards since then is probably
being test flown there now, which could include such craft as the Black
Manta, The Pumpkin Seed, the Aurora and other military aircraft that we
can't even speculate about.

The Air Force finally admitted to the existence of Area 51 on April 17,
2000, when an Air Force spokeswoman told the Associated Press reporters,
"We acknowledge having an operating site there (Area 51), and the work is
classified."...

She also stated that the work done at Area 51 includes "operations
critical to the U.S. military and the countryâ^À^Ùs security."

I have always maintained that Area 51 (at least for me) is a "Catch 22"
situation. I totally agree that we (the United States) need a place to
test newly developed aircraft to keep our adversaries from knowing what
we are developing. That would also explain to me why much of what is at
Area 51 probably is hidden in underground facilities or in hangars to
keep the prying eyes of foreign satellites from knowing what is going on
there. Rumors have surfaced over the years that the base has as many as
22 levels underground, and some of the hangars seen from locations miles
from the base indicate structures of gigantic size. One of the two
runways at Groom Lake is 30,000 feet long, indicating some aircraft are
landing at tremendous velocity, to require that length of runway. As a
comparison, one of the Roswell Army Airfield runways is 13,000 feet and
was used by B-29 and B-52s to carry atomic bombs in the 40â^À^Ùs,
50â^À^Ùs and early 1960s.

Other than the flight-testing of aircraft, we know very little about what
transpires at the base, but due to the security around the base and in
the air, itâ^À^Ùs obvious that other highly secretive projects are
conducted there on a regular basis. At least one of those projects
involves the production, use, and disposal of toxic waste, which all
government and private businesses, except Area 51, are required to report
in their waste disposal procedures, as required under the Resource
Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), administered by the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA).

For the fifth year in a row, the President of the United States has
recently granted the Air Force an "executive exemption" from legal
requirements to disclose information regarding solid or hazardous waste
disposal operations at Area 51. Under federal law 42-U.S.C. 6961(a), the
President can exempt any solid waste management facility of any
department or agency in the executive branch from compliance with such a
requirement, if he determines it to be in the paramount interest of the
United States to do so. I have always believed that the President of the
United States does not have the security clearance to know all there is
to know about UFOs, and other secretive projects of our government and/or
military, because heâ^À^Ùs a temporary employee---in office a maximum of
8 years. Making the exemption every year for Area 51 was decided in 1997,
when a court ruled that the exemption for "an operating location near
Groom Lake" had to be issued by the White House. The first exemption was
issued by President Clinton in 1998 and is being continued yearly by our
current resident in the White House, George W. Bush, who issued the most
recent exemption (Presidential Determination No 2003-39) on September 16,
2003, according to an "immediate release" issued by the White House
Office of the Press Secretary.

It's believed the yearly exemption by the President is the result of a
lawsuit filed in 1996 on behalf of two former civilian employees at Area
51. Both died of illnesses connected to inhalation of smoke from toxic
materials being disposed of at Area 51. Attorneys for the families of the
two employees claimed the Air Force and EPA violated the RCRA by
illegally burning hazardous waste at Area 51 in open pits. The attorneys
were not seeking monetary damages, but were asking that the Air Force be
required to disclose what the chemical nature of the hazardous waste was,
and their method of disposing of the chemicals at Area 51. When the
lawsuits were filed, the Pentagon denied the existence of Area 51, and
the Air Force lawyers indicated the deceased former employees could not
have possibly inhaled non-existent smoke from non-existent hazardous
waste disposed of at a non-existent Air Force Base. When the court handed
down itâ^À^Ùs ruling, it ordered the EPA to conduct annual inspections at
"the operating location near Groom Lake" for compliance with RCRA and to
make itâ^À^Ùs findings public. To avoid any information going public, the
federal law mentioned above was invoked and the Air Force was able to
maintain their secrecy at the base, with the blessing of the President by
virtue of the exemption issued each year.

The widows of the former employees will probably never know what their
husbands were exposed to that caused their deaths, while employed at Area
51. There are undoubtedly other secretive bases within the United States
that also do not need to comply with the EPA laws, simply exempted from
the law, with the stroke of the Presidentâ^À^Ùs pen. What about the
ranchers, livestock and wildlife in the vicinity of Area 51? Are they
also in jeopardy of being exposed to deadly radiation from the unlawful
means used to dispose of toxic wastes at the secret base?

Nothing about any aliens, UFO craft or otherworldly things was ever
mentioned by the former employees or the attorneys representing their
families, when the lawsuit was filed. There is no factual proof or
verification that anything related to UFOs is taking place at Area 51,
however the rumors continue to flourish, based primarily on statements
made by individuals who claim to have worked there at one time or
another. Those rumors will continue I'm sure until such time that the
government or military decides to inform the public about what really
transpires at the base that has the highest security in the world. As
taxpayers we are entitled to know some things, however if national
security is involved, care must be taken in who is told what. That
however does not in my opinion relieve our government from complying with
the same laws that all other businesses have to comply with. Politicians
constantly rant and rave about the environment, while dedicated employees
such as the two mentioned in the lawsuit are exposed to toxic waste, that
apparently had fatal results while employed at Area 51, and exemptions
continue to be given.

The original Presidential Determinations signed by then President Clinton
and more recently by George W. Bush in 2000 did not mention the lawsuit.
Both the 2002 and 2003 Determinations signed by Bush however do mention
the litigation, in Kasza v. Browner and Frost v. Perry.

We can assume then that Area 51 is still alive and well. The signs around
the perimeter still indicate "the use of deadly force is authorized," and
the patrols by the â^À^Ücammo dudesâ^À^Ý in their Jeeps, and 4 wheel
drive Ford and Chevy pickups, still monitor any unauthorized individuals
approaching to close to the boundary of the base.

I agree that some of the work being done at Area 51 probably deserves to
be classified, but it does not give the government or military permission
to break the law or to abuse the rights of its employees.