Police follow money trail from nuke plant (New Details)

[TexasLawyer]

NRC and DHC-- nothing to see here, people! Move along!

Police follow money trail from nuke plant
Bill Vidonic
04/23/2006

For now, there are still few answers as to what two Texas men were doing with more than $500,000 in cash at the Beaver Valley Nuclear Power Station on Tuesday, but investigators insist there was no terrorist activity involved.

A group of state troopers and investigators from the FBIare continuing to investigate the bizarre incident, in which two men from Houston, Donald R. Kingsby, 29, and William Lewis Jr., 28, went to the plant to pick up tools for Bechtel Corp., a contracting company doing work for the plant's $300 million upgrade.

<snip>

According to Texas driving records, the rig and flatbed trailer were registered to Glenn E. Marsh, 37, also of Houston. No one answered the phone at Marsh's home Saturday, and Kingsby and Lewis could not be reached Saturday. Kingsby, Lewis and Marsh each denied knowledge of the money, which state police said could have been tainted with drugs. Because of that, the money was confiscated and eventually could be forfeited to the state.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Thursday it considered the matter closed on its end and was satisfied that security guards had done their job properly and that there was no security breach at the plant.

On Friday, a spokeswoman for the federal Department of Homeland Security said the agency had been notified of the incident, which was not being viewed as a security threat. The department said it would not be involved in the investigation.

Bill Vidonic can be reached online at [e-mail].
©Beaver County Times Allegheny Times 2006

http://www.timesonline.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=16520659&BRD=2305&PAG=461&dept_id=478569&rfi=6

[CrazyOrangeCat]

1. What a lot of crap. n/t

[The Backlash Cometh]

35. 500 ton crap load, to be exact.

[Blue_Tires]

2. the cover-up starts

[shraby]

4. The question is.....cover-up of what?

It's obviously a cover-up. The trick is to find out what was covered up. Maybe some enterprising reporter will do his job. :eyes:

[henslee]

13. The cover up of a giant nuclear crack party inside the plant.

[IronLionZion]

89. bwahaha

my co-workers are wondering why I'm ROFLMAO.

[file83]

72. One of the basic facts 'covered-up' in this article was in relation to

the claims of ownership by the truckers Kingsby & Lewis. This latest article in the OP states only:

Kingsby, Lewis and Marsh each denied knowledge of the money...

Which isn't completely true. Kingsby and Lewis previously stated to the security guards that the money was their boss':

When security guards at the Beaver Valley Power Station discovered a bag containing thousands of dollars in a tractor-trailer cab, one of the vehicle's occupants told them his boss planned to use the cash to buy a truck.

source: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06110/683609-57.stm

Only later did they deny that the money was theirs to the Police:

The truckers said the money wasn't theirs and they didn't know how it got there, Trooper Bayer said.

source: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06110/683609-57.stm

Then, in a later article, we get this bizarre 3rd claim:

They just said they were coming from Chicago. A man there had put the bag in the sleeper compartment with instructions it was supposed to go back to Houston.

source: http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=local&id=4099064

So it seems that media is failing (purposfully?) to report these glaring contridictions from Kingsby & Lewis. This is probably the last story we will read about these two individuals.

[jazzjunkysue]

96. Kickbacks. That's what privatizing is all about.

This is a kickback, or hush money, or something to bribe a night worker to ignore something. I'll bet it's just currency for contracts. Once you sell your soul to the sydicate, the dough rolls in. Gotta get there somehow. A nuclear plant is good because you can control access, and pesky reporters and such aren't allowed. No bag searches: Every one with clearance gets in without a search.

[Athame]

3. Thanks, Texas Lawyer, for keeping this story alive

It still smells really bad. NRC considers the matter closed; Homeland Security not investigating; the money eventually returning to the state {from whence it came, methinks}. La-la-la-la.

One other note, GW was meeting with Bechtel's George Schultz the next day in California. The meeting had to be moved to Schultz' home because of protests at Stanford. Just a side observation, proves nothing, has no real value--but interesting to me for some reason. Remembering that Warren Buffet and Offut AFB figured on the sidelines on 9-11.

[uppityperson]

5. were they white guys? $500,000 is a lot of spare change

[rocktivity]

6. Hooray for the plant security guards

Unfortunately, it sounds like they're the ONLY ones who did their jobs.

Why weren't the drivers held? They fled the plant when the money was found and claimed both that they didn't know anything about the money and that it was meant for the purchase of a truck by their boss. To me, that sounds like more than enough grounds for suspcion.

By the way, are "surprise" truck deliveries to nuclear plants customary? It doesn't sound as though the truck was expected.

:headbang:
rocknation

[0007]

16. I'm having a hard time with a flat bed truck needed to pick up

tools. What kind of tools? If they said equipment that could be believable.

This is a story and so far it stinks to high heaven.

[Thor_MN]

19. If they were in s portable steel toolchest...

Just a guess, but I've seen toolchests that are designed such that the contractor can lock it up and leave it on site, unguarded with little fear of theft. An 8' by 4' by 4' heavy steel box full of tools needs more than a pickup to move. That part doesn't bug me, but who the heck is going to entrust half a million dollars to a couple 20-somethings to deliver?

[0007]

44. An eighteen wheeler to pick up

an 8'x4'x'4' tool box? Give me a break!

[druidity33]

62. I've seen it with my own 2 eyes...

Construction equipment and tools are EXTREMELY heavy... EVERYTHING needs a truck to move it. Even little things... it's always better to load onto a rig that can bear more weight than your cargo than it is to load onto a truck that's carrying capacity is in question. I agree with the other poster... this isn't unusual, though i wouldn't mind knowing exactly what type of tools they were getting.

[katty]

76. Sounds like a major screw up,change o'plans or deliberate intervention

[Name removed]

21. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[jimshoes]

7. If the feds aren't too concerned about

$500,000.00 in cash it is becuase it's their money. If your average joe or jane gets stopped with even a few grand on them, the authorities will want to know how you got it, no?

[annabanana]

8. my thought too...

If they're not too concerned, they already know what's going on.
Thank you for the update!
(nom for visibility)

[TexasLawyer]

10. The agency response does seem mystifying!

I loved this suggestion from someone on the "scoop" forum:

"Everyone go and get $100 in small bills, then head down to the local university nuke plant, or if you live near one, drive up to the gate. And see what happens. Maybe if we all go arrested, it would make the news."

http://scoop.epluribusmedia.org/story/2006/4/21/134539/749

[IndianaGreen]

9. Looks like a black ops operation that the security guards stumbled on

this may explain the apparent lack of concern by Homeland Security and the FBI. Bechtel has been involved with intelligence operations in the past, so who knows what is really going on. The fact that the people involved are "unavailable" raises alarm bells.

[Binka]

11. Alarm Bells? Hell This Raises Alarm Fog Horns!

[blm]

71. Two big GIVEAWAY CLUES it's a BFEE operation - Bechtel and Houston.

.

[Sinti]

12. This is a weird one. It doesn't make sense at all

My first thought was, what or who were they going to buy at the plant. Then I came to my senses and realized, no one in their right mind would attempt buy illegal nuclear-related people or products right there at the plant, that's just too hair-brained. It's like selling narcotics in the police station you would at least go down the street a bit, and probably around the corner.

Hopefully this story will have a conclusion other than just, "hey, whatever happened to those dudes with half-a-mil in their truck?"

[rman]

60. "like selling narcotics in the police station"

Would make sense if there's corruption at the police station.

[Name removed]

14. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Sinti]

18. That's a really interesting angle on the Tube bombing.

In a world with justice it would be run down and investigated thoroughly. Of course, this is Bizarro world, so it will fade into the memory hole.

"Could it be Osama bin Laden has seen "Die Hard"?"

Perhaps, after all, the 9/11 attack on the WTC was a replica of the pilot episode of The Lone Gunmen. The players were changed, of course, and the good guys didn't win in real life, but nonetheless...

The half-a-mil that smells like drugs and everyone walks away has the stench of Iran-Contra small missions on it, IMO. Not saying they're at all related, of course, but it just has the same footprints. A lot of "big money, we don't know who it belongs to, it smells like cocaine, but there's no product here" events went on in that time.

It's a strange story that I wouldn't believe if it weren't in a mainstream paper.

[truth2power]

93. It would be great if I could figure out why anyone who says anything

about the tube bombing gets deleted. I must be missing something. Honest!

[Ready4Change]

15. $500,000 cash, Bechtel, missing persons, Nuclear plant, everything's fine.

I feel safer already. :eyes:

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

27. Bechtel, half a mil and nukes?

:boring:

[lovuian]

17. Negroponte at the helm just makes us extremely

vulnerable!!! That there is no security risks in this is laughable!!!

[nashville_brook]

20. let try to reproduce the same results using our people and $500/mil

bet it won't work the same. scary how OBL is rattling sabres now.

[Warren Stupidity]

22. Color Coded MIHOP Warning Level: Orange.

Level Orange is reached whenever three or more of the following conditions exist:

1) the Bush Organized Crime Family is in serious political trouble;
2) an election is within 6-9 months;
3) inexplicable 'incidents' occur that would normally be cause for serious concern but do not appear to trouble the relevant federal agencies;
4) the War Party is on a PR campaign to get its latest War On.

It is not quite time to break out the duct tape and plastic sheets, or to load up on bottled water and canned tuna fish, or to start hoarding Cipro.

[Minstrel Boy]

23. Note it's still only the local media touching this.

Why is the national media conspicuously uninterested?

[Us vs Them]

24. Fuck the national media.

If people really want to know what's going on now, they turn to the internet. And, hey, that's us!

The national media is playing catch up and has been for the last two years.

[TexasLawyer]

25. That's the $500,000 question!

It's not like they don't know about it.

Not even Drudge Report mentioned this story. I sent the story in to Drudge as soon as I heard about it, and I imagine many others did as well. He obviously had more important things to report on, though, like "BRIDE'S RELATIVES STABBED IN FIGHT OVER WEDDING CAKE...".

[henslee]

26. Because the fix is in. We have lost our country. I doubt we will ever

get it back, really. And if you make too much noise about it... watch your back.

[Octafish]

65. They are following orders.

Edit: Type-zero.

[Supersedeas]

81. almost as if they all got the 'memo' (OFF LIMITS BUB)

[Rex]

28. Bechtel Corp Bechtel Corp...hmmm nope doesn't ring a bell

oh wait! You mean Rummies Bechtel Corp...ohhhhh...well that all makes sense now; he was in the Pentagon when it got hit. Never figured Rummy as the bagman.

Some info on Bechtel...they are anything BUT innocent in covert ops.
http://foi.missouri.edu/execprivilege/bechtel1.html

[glitch]

29. Wow - for them to come out with these claims so early in the investigation

is itself very suspicious indeed.

[leesa]

30. Sounds like this was the Bush Crime Family's next 9-11. Bechtel...long

time Bush Crime Family members. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.."Move along folks, nothing to see here". This is the biggest crime syndicate on record.

[PublicWrath]

68. speaking of nuclear,

Not long ago a DU'er posted an outside article that said bushco has a contingency plan on 'file' at the Pentagon that provides for an attack on Iran in the event of another terrorist attack (like, for instance, a dirty bomb) on US soil. Apparently this plan authorizes a strike on Iran even if the terrorist attack cannot be traced to Iran.

[NYC]

31. Links to original reports:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2236825

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=983040&mesg_id=983040

[Catrina]

32. So, DHS and the FBI must have done the following before they

determined there was nothing to worry about:

1) Dusted the duffel bag for fignerprints, to determine whether or not the driver, the passenger and their boss were telling the truth about having no knowledge of the bag being on the truck.

2) Checked the bank accounts of all three, to determine of there was any truth to the 'he was going to buy a truck' story. Or just because it might have turned up some info relevant to the incident.

3) Checked the containers they were supposed to pick up to see if they did contain tools as they stated.


4) Checked with the Ohio 'customer' to whom they claimed to be delivering the tools. Asked him what was in the containers he was expecting and compared his answer to what they SURELY must have discovered in the containers they MUST HAVE checked at the plant!!

5) Questioned the driver and passenger as to where the alleged theft of the ID took place, and dusted the truck for fingerprints. Gone with them to where this alleged theft took place and checked if anything other than the ID was stolen.

6) They must now be tracking the use of the stolen ID in case someone is using it.

7) Questioned the driver and passenger about why one version of their story claimed that ONE OF THEM was going to buy a truck, but a later version claimed that the boss was the potential buyer. Since the boss denies this story now, questioned the driver and passenger as to how it could be they 'knew nothing' about the money, when they were claiming

a) One of them was going to buy a truck.
b) The boss was going to buy a truck.

If they knew nothing about it, how come they said otherwise initially? And considering this, why would the DHS and the FBI accept their final version of the story, that none of the three knew anything about it? Surely they will be put under oath in order to get a more truthful version of the story?

Lying to a Fed. officer is a crime. Martha Stewart went to jail for doing so. Why would the Feds take this so lightly?



8) Questioned the Boss as to why he told the driver to leave the plant after security said they would call the police. If this is true, what was he afraid of if he knew nothing about the money? If it was the driver's decision, what was he afraid of, since all three NOW claim they knew nothing about the money.

I know nothing about law enforcement, so I'm sure there are many other things both the DHS and the FBI would like to know before declaring this to a nothing event. That's all I can think of offhand.

[troubleinwinter]

34. This is not related to terrorism. They are not Quakers.

[jazzjunkysue]

94. Thanks for my monday morning laugh.

:rofl:

[TexasLawyer]

42. Those are some VERY good questions

I have a couple more--

If the NRC and DHS are so satisfied with the conclusion that nothing happened, then why are the FBI and PA state troopers still investigating the incident (as indicated in the posted article)?

What are the FBI and PA state troopers still investigating and why?

Is it even conceivable to the NRC and DHS folks that further FBI/trooper investigation might turn up something troubling? Do they care?

[eleny]

74. Ohio 'customer'

Oh jeezuss! Ohio, Houston, Bechtel. This plot is getting mighty thick.

[DemonFighterLives]

87. I'll bet this high and mighty super spook organization

never thought of any of those questions. You are way ahead of the curve and should be running this goofy security dept.
:applause:

[MissWaverly]

33. sure, nothing to see, I am sure they just wanted a pizza

and they brought $500,000 along to pay for the extra cheese, do you realize that they
wanted background checks on all the red cross volunteers that were going down to
help with Katrina aftermath. Yet 2 guys show up with 500,000 at a nuke power plant,
hey, let them go, look like nice guys to me.

[SpiralHawk]

36. "Case Closed" WTF? Obviously the Nuclear Reg. Commission is

people by neoCON BushCO republicon corrupt cronies.

the republicon culture of corruption is vast and amoral. It is not only stealing from America, it is endangering America.

k and r

[Ecumenist]

37. BECHTEL????!!!!

Isn't that a member of the Carlyle Group?

[Rex]

38. Rummy was a Bechtel lobbyist back in the day.

They're not owned by Carlyle, but check out the companies they do own! Scary shit!

http://www.thecarlylegroup.com/eng/portfolio/index.html

[Ecumenist]

39. wow, Rex,

The average american would be arrested and thrown underneath the jailhouse for underpaying taxes. These creeps do everything but skin babies on camera and they're ignored bythe powers that be.

[Rex]

83. They are the bagmen for the powers that be.

I wish that statement would terrify more people into sobriety.

[Ghost Dog]

40. Hey, that looks like a very well-placed ad. at the top of the linked item:

(sorry, mods - but seems apt comment) :-)

[Earth_First]

41. Where is the cargo manifest?

Correct me if I am wrong, but each delivery/pickup in the trucking industry comes along with a cargo manifest in it's log book, no? Don't most truck drivers know exactly what is to be transported? Even if there was a manifest, why is there absolutely nothing mentioned about this list in any of the reporting (not there has been a whole lot to begin with)

Just more of the "hmmm..." to this story.

[CanSocDem]

43. It's not inconcievable...

....that the truck pulled up to the gate/guard shack without any authorization. They would have a chance to try and bullshit the guard into letting them into the facility without arousing any particular suspicion. Without the proper paperwork and a shipping number, they wouldn't get in and the guard would tell them as much.

It isn't even unusual for a truck to pull out of line and take off on the premise of getting their load number. In this case it sounds as if the gate guard let his suspicions get the better of him...finally....and called the police. The guard would have had all the info off the truck so it wouldn't be hard to track.

If I didn't think I had already heard that 'the drivers were testing the security at various volatile facilities around the country', I would suggest that it sounds like what they were doing. A truck and trailer unit with convincing documentation would be like a master key to the nations vitals.....

[eleny]

75. "testing the security at various volatile facilities around the country"

But then why did they have 500k in cash in the truck? It doesn't add up.

[CanSocDem]

88. No, it doesn't add up....

...and I'm not saying it is legitimate. Truck drivers can get away with phoney explanations for the cash they are carrying because there really are a variety of believable reasons, from buying a new truck to paying for the load. Half a million in small bills doesn't meet any of the criteria of course but it would pay for a lot of these "facility tests" around the country.

[TexasLawyer]

45. Some theories posted by commenters on John Conyers' website

MIHOP theories are in the minority, but gaining.

http://www.conyersblog.us/archives/00000428.htm

Comment #30: Rusty

<snip>
Perhaps I'm being a paranoid, leftist, fever-swamp, tinfoil conspiracy theorist who doesn't get out of my parent's basement enough, but it seems to me that "Iranian terrorists" sabotaging a nuclear power plant and turning half of Pennsylvania into a radioactive wasteland would be a very convenient "justification" for Bush attacking Iran.

Apparently, the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force figures that truckers just happen to show up at American nuclear power plants with $500,000 in cash all the time.

Maybe these two Texans really were out shopping at nuke plants for a really nice pick-em up truck with that $500,000 so their boss could cruise for chicks in style . . . maybe they really were going to deliver some tools to friends and associates in the People's Republic of Ohio . . . maybe their boss just forgot about that $500,000 because he's a busy man and has lots of important stuff to do everyday.

OR, maybe a couple of minimum wage security guards just prevented the Rovians from bribing a nuke plant worker to engage in some very timely sabotage and hand Bush the Decider another 9/11 to exploit on behalf of his handlers at PNAC and to cheer up the psychopaths at the Republican National Committee.


Comment #31: Genghis Khan said on 4/20/06 @ 7:43pm ET...

Smells like a "dirty bomb" materials purchase if I ever saw one.

Spent nuclear fuel can't be used for an explosive device, nor would it be suitable for "enrichment", but would be extremely useful in a dirty bomb. The resultant pollution would be extremely harmful for thousands of years and full remediation would be horrendously difficult and expensive.

While true that no apparent crime had been committed, the FBI should keep a team of agents stationed deep in these men's rectums for the next year.

[PublicWrath]

69. a troubling incident, especially when the stakes are so high, see post #68

[TexasLawyer]

46. FOIA request to the NRC

Hey, look. At least someone out there in journalism land is asking about this!

http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/foia/recent-request.html

Recent FOIA Requests

FOIA/PA Requests Received During the Period of April 14 - April 20, 2006

<snip>
Beaver Valley Power Plant, incident re: duffel bag with cash found in arriving tractor trailer, 4/18/06, all records

FOIA/PA-2006-0184

[rocktivity]

47. If only this story didn't remind me so much

of these two:

British Attack Basra Jail to Free Two

BASRA, Iraq (AP, 9/19/05) - British forces using tanks broke down the walls of the central jail...and freed two Britons, allegedly undercover commandos, who had been arrested on charges of shooting two Iraqi policemen.

...fighting erupted after British armor encircled the jail where the two Britons were being held...

American arrested with arms in Iraq, official says

BAGHDAD (Reuters 3/14/06) - An American described as a security contractor arrested by police in a northern Iraqi town was carrying weapons in his car...

The man, driving a BMW, was stopped by police for violating a daytime curfew in Tikrit, a security source said. American security personnel rarely travel alone...

A spokesman for the major crimes unit in Tikrit said the man was first brought to their headquarters but they refused to take him into custody. The arresting police were told to take the man to the provincial council building, the spokesman said, where he was taken by American forces.

Here's hoping that Conyers reads the comments on his site and takes an interest!

:headbang:
rocknation

[Kailassa]

48. The duffle-bag full of small currency reminded me of this story.

US Was Big Spender in Days before Iraq Handover

By Sue Pleming
Reuters Wednesday 22 June 2005

Cash was loaded onto giant pallets for shipment by plane to Iraq, and paid out to contractors who carried it away in duffel bags.

The United States handed out nearly $20 billion of Iraq's funds, with a rush to spend billions in the final days before transferring power to the Iraqis nearly a year ago, a report said on Tuesday.

A report by Democratic Rep. Henry Waxman of California said in the week before the hand-over on June 28, 2004, the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority ordered the urgent delivery of more than $4 billion in Iraqi funds from the U.S. Federal Reserve in New York. ...

An audit by the U.S. Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction said U.S. auditors could not account for nearly $8.8 billion in Iraqi funds and the United States had not provided adequate controls for this money.

http://www.truthout.org/cgi-bin/artman/exec/view.cgi/37/12066

I would not be surprised if this had been one of those duffle-bags of Iraq reconstruction funds.

The drugs angle is purely a red herring, as so much money now has cocaine traces on it that it's impossible to have a big bunch of notes that are drug-free. This suits the police because they always have an excuse now to confiscate money if they feel like it.

[TexasLawyer]

51. Yes, duffel bags of cash are a running theme...

http://www.chris-floyd.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=533

BushCo's been setting up companies using duffel bags full of cash! Maybe this was a stray one.


From an article on how Custer Battles was founded:

Little Big Men: Custer Battles and Bushist Blood Money
Written by Chris Floyd
Sunday, 12 March 2006

<snip>

....Plucky little guys with plenty of moxie always win out in the American Dream. But just how little are these pluckers? Their website offers a suitably Lincolnesque tale of humble origins: how they had to scrape and borrow money just to get to Iraq, where their unknown company was magically chosen by an unnamed Bush honcho who gave them the no-bid airport contract – along with a duffel bag stuffed with $2 million in small bills, just to get the ball rolling. Plucky Mike promptly deposited this swag in a Lebanese bank, far from the prying eyes of American regulators. From this potent seed sprang a mercenary/consulting outfit now worth $100 million.

<snip>

[rman]

66. Money can be squeeky clean and still be drugs money

Narcotics trade is perfect for generating black funds, which in turn is perfect for financing clandestine Covert Ops.

[xiamiam]

49. this is a BIG story...and most probably has implications beyond

our wildest imagination..a few facts about Beaver Co and the area surrounding the nuke plant...extremely depressed area in the Ohio River Valley..one of the most economically disadvantaged areas in the country...one poster above mentioned mob activity and that might not be too far off since this is historically an area of regular families and mob activity..i grew up near there and this was just known info...my instinct tells me that 500000 at a nuke plant which no one wants to claim is more than drug money...

[NYC]

50. I agree that it is not likely to be drug money.

Something is up here. Bechtel with sacks of money. Sounds familiar.

[patriothackd]

103. Sacks of money and access to key people

access through directorships on boards of the key companies, and ties to politicians, and sacks of money going out through underlings. Any Abramoff connection?

[The Wielding Truth]

52. If anything happens @ a Nuke Plant

it will be quite obvious it was a set up.

[truth2power]

53. The whole official story is a load of crap....

These guys went from Houston to Chicago to PA and they never slept? Right! So they never noticed the padlocked duffle in the sleeper cab? Wouldn't you worry if you found a heavy, padlocked duffle in your vehicle and you didn't know who put it there? 'Course, their story keeps changing, so who knows.

And Maximum Leader and his Cabal have defined "terrorism" so broadly that you could be designated a terrorist if you were caught jaywalking. But these guys run away, leaving the "tools" they came for, and then lie to the Feds. Numerous times. Nevermind, though. No funny business here. No siree!

Bushco operation fucked up, just like everything these goons do. Just MHO.

[patriothackd]

100. The stories are always a load of crap

Did anybody see anyone who actually works for the plant interviewed about what they thing about all this? I hope a blogger will make a few phone calls and get the real story.

[preciousdove]

54. Kicking because this needs to be kept alive n/t

[1932]

55. If it wasn't for terrorism, it was for bribes to construction inspectors?

No?

[patriothackd]

99. Bribes are good. Proves the nuke employees are 'flexible'

persuadable by whomsoever has the cash. Very nice for homeland security. But the DHS is "not involved" and there was "no security breach"

[TexasLawyer]

56. The mystery hole in the Florida nuke plant

is just as scary, IMO. Especially scary is the conclusory and Pollyanna-ish attitude of the NRC Chairman.

To paraphrase the Chairman: We don't know WHO or WHY this hole was deliberately drilled, but by golly, whoever did it is not going to do it again because we are pitching a big fit and we're getting really, really mad. If they do it again we will get even madder! The hole driller probably didn't know that drilling holes in nuclear power facilities is a crime, but by gosh now that we're pitching this fit they're going to know it was a FEDERAL crime. And, we came up with some super safety strategies-- like TURNING ON OUR SURVEILLANCE CAMERAS. So we mean it this time, evil-doers! Don't do it again OR ELSE!

http://www.local10.com/news/8890046/detail.html

Nuclear Chairman Admits Flaw In Turkey Point Security
Plant Had Surveillance Cameras, But They Weren't Set Up To Record

POSTED: 5:41 pm EDT April 21, 2006

MIAMI -- An investigation into a hole intentionally drilled into a pipe at the Turkey Point Nuclear Power Plant has led to increased security, and a change in how surveillance cameras at the plant will be used. Friday, the investigation brought the chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to South Florida.

NRC Chairman Nils Diaz said that he thinks the hole, found earlier this month in a primary coolant pipe, was most likely made by a disgruntled worker Florida Power and Light employee or a contractor hired to do work during the plant shutdown. The NRC is conducting its own investigation into the hole that was found while the unit was shutdown for routine maintenance and re-fueling.

"We take any attempt at a nuclear power plant no matter how small, very seriously," Diaz said. But Diaz said he wants to assure the public there was no threat to safety -- and that no similar incident will happen again. "We intend to make enough noise about this to try and discourage anybody from showing their discontent in this type of manner," Diaz said.

For the first time, Diaz said FP&L did have surveillance cameras outside and inside the containment building of unit three where the hole was drilled. But he admitted that while one or more of the cameras might have spotted something suspicious, the cameras were not set-up to record, so any image captured was not saved. "That's one of the lessons learned is that from now on, I understand from Florida Power and Light, that the video is now going to be kept and therefore it would be usable," Diaz said.

There has been a reward of $100,000 on the table for a couple of weeks, but investigators say there has been no information forthcoming that would help identify who drilled the hole. The hole was drilled in a pipe that carried super-heated, slightly radioactive water but that would have posed no significant safety issue, according to Diaz, even if the hole had not been discovered. Diaz says FP&L and other nuclear plant operators will now begin doing more extensive background checks on employees and contractors to prevent something like this from happening again. "It is a federal crime and we intend to make sure that everybody knows that," he said.

<snip>

[TexasLawyer]

59. Yikes-- so maybe an NRC investigation

is not the be all and end all. Is the NRC like FEMA-- just another place to stash Bush cronies? Sure looks like it.

http://www.indyweek.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A29678
MARCH 29, 2006

'The report is bullshit'
Feds confirm security problems at Harris, but whistle-blower slams NRC investigation as a 'whitewash'

BY SUE STURGIS

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission last week released an interim report confirming some allegations of security problems at Progress Energy's Shearon Harris nuclear power plant near Raleigh--including chronically malfunctioning doors to vital parts of the facility. Citing the company's promise to take action to prevent future problems, the watchdogs whose complaint sparked the probe say the findings vindicate the whistle-blowing guard who brought his concerns to their attention.

<snip>

Among the most serious allegations the NRC substantiated were ongoing problems with security doors to vital areas, which include one of the nation's largest stockpiles of highly radioactive spent fuel. The NRC discovered that Progress did repairs on 48 doors during 2005, including 14 vital-area doors that failed to lock. The whistle-blower says guards were told the doors were not replaced because they were too costly at about $7,000 each.

But even though the NRC found doors repeatedly malfunctioned, it downplayed the significance of the finding. The "substantiated concerns did not represent a degradation of plant security," the NRC wrote in its report.

That conclusion outrages the whistle-blowing guard, who says a security door that doesn't lock makes guards' job of protecting the plant difficult by providing potential concealment to adversaries. He also disputes the NRC's assurance that Progress took compensatory measures such as stationing an armed guard every time a door failed. In fact, he maintains Progress supervisors routinely instructed guards to stop pulling on doors that would not lock.

"'Don't try to open it so hard'--those were their exact words," he says.

<snip-- MUCH more!>

[patriothackd]

101. It is just nukes, lighten up.

Sheesh.

[OneBlueSky]

57. somebody's hiiiiiiiiiiding something . . .

BushCo will monitor nuns and environmentalists as possible terror threats, but have no interest in a half mil in small bills about to enter a nuke plant? . . . I don't buy it for a second . . .

[TexasLawyer]

58. good point!

[PublicWrath]

70. ditto, the incident and the lack of federal concern absolutely vibrate n/t

[theHandpuppet]

61. Of course the DHS is not involved!

Their agents are too busy harassing citizens at our public libraries. What goes on at our nuclear power plants is irrelevant.

[QuettaKid]

64. don't forget the Cloudcroft incident.

I think it was in one of the original threads about this story...

[patriothackd]

98. So, is DHS not involved or not admitting it's involved?

If DHS really isn't involved, then Houston we have a problem. How many other problems come from Houston, besides these two guys and DHS's noninvolvement.

[cassiepriam]

63. Follow the money trail, always goes back to the Texas Oil Mafia...

and they are up to no good, I can tell you that.

[rman]

67. Not to mention

the Texas Oil Mafia is cozy with the Saudi/Middle East Oil Mafia.
Which is probably why the govt doesn't want to follow the 9-11 money trail.

[cassiepriam]

80. Bingo my friend, you have it. All one big oil mafia......... nt

[BuyingThyme]

73. kcik

[StaggerLee]

77. Kick

:dem:

[QuettaKid]

78. KICK and bookmarked.

we will hear more about this story....mark my words.

[TexasLawyer]

82. I hope we don't hear about it after a MIHOP II !

:scared::nuke::scared::nuke::scared:

[fooj]

79. Bullshit.

:grr:

[Hotler]

84. Didn't the Mexicans bust a jet with 5.5 tons of coke...

where the pilot walked a couple of weeks ago??

[noel adamson]

91. A CIA plane from Venezuela

http://www.gnn.tv/threads/14650/Mexico_Army_Finds_Tons_of_Cocaine_on_CIA_Plane_from_arriving_from_Venezuela?page=1

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rls=GGLG,GGLG:2006-14,GGLG:en&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=venezuela+coke+airliner&spell=1

This SOP for financing illegal black op jobs in the CIA with the added bonus of doing great harm to the population of the U.S.

I can only guess at what a large truck is doing at a nike plant with $500,000 but picking up materials for the next Reichstag fire would be at the top of my guess list. A "dirty" bomb in some "liberal" stronghold like maybe L.A. this time would be one possible way to boost Bush's poll numbers and reinforce his image as being good at defending us... I know that doesn't make sense but, gee willikers, it worked on September 11th of 2001!

[cosmicdot]

85. just noting that Stephen Bechtel is on Hoover Institution's Board

of Overseers ... George Shultz is a Fellow at Hoover and is on Bechtel's Board of Directors ...
Bu$h just met with Shultz in secret ... Hoover Institution was reported in 1999 to be Smirk's brain ...

http://www.hoover.org/bios/shultz.html

~ it's small world after all ~

http://www.hoover.org/main/boardovr.html

Scaife is on Hoover's Executive committee, too.

Foundation Total $ # of Grants Span

Scaife (No. 1)
$9,043,900
48
1985-2003
http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/1479


Of course, Hoover's is the rock Kindasleazy Rice crawled out from under ...

move along, now, people ... nothing to see here ...

[QuettaKid]

86. A.M. KICK. . . .

anyone heard anything new?

[patriothackd]

102. There's a Bechtel involved with some Dem politician too

Sorry to be un-pc. Wasn't a Bechtel found connected to some California Dem, by marriage or something? I once went looking up these Bechtels. You find them everywhere there's power to be had.

[Homer Wells]

90. IT'S HARD TO BELIEVE

that there has been NOTHING said about this for the past week or two. Is this bizarre series of incidents going to be simply swept under the rug, with those in the know counting on Americans short attention spans!!:wtf:
Has anybody heard anything about this since it was originally posted??

:scared: :argh: :kick:

[clixtox]

92. If A Bear Shits In The Woods...

This supposed non-story indicates how the Citizens of the USA are sheep, herded around by our noses and protected from the real true situation we are in.

Ignorance is bliss, are we having fun yet?

It is fascism children, so shut up and play dead, stay fearful because the boogie man is coming for you, or maybe you, next!

Go have a beer or some drug(s) and be quiet, very quiet.

The original thread on this story was kept alive for two weeks on DU. Except on the fringes of the internet, the story was buried, deep and has stayed buried...

The money was weighed obviously, not counted. That is why the amount was not exactly $500,000. Close enough though for Government work... I would think that this half million was just a small part of a much larger cache of cash, too much to bother counting it all out exactly.

What do you think?

[leesa]

95. Right. All roads lead to Houston, therefore the investigation is over

before it begins.

[patriothackd]

97. --I beg your pardon?

I know I drive around with $500,000 in cash in my vehicle most days. Yeah sure. Run along now, nothing unusual and there's nothing to see.

[TexasLawyer]

104. And I ALWAYS carry at least that much

when I make my very frequent stops at my favorite mom and pop nuclear power plants! But, I don't like to carry ID, it's too burdensome.

On a serious note-- anybody heard anything new about this story? I really don't want MIHOP II playing out, especially since there's a Houston connection.
:nuke::scared::nuke::scared::nuke::scared::nuke::scared::nuke:

[Norquist Nemesis]

105. Who is Glenn E. Marsh (and who does he know)? n/t

[genieroze]

106. All this stuff is making me nervous, I live near a nuke plant.

[Renew Deal]

107. This story stinks

:wtf:

[MilesColtrane]

108. Yep. Those boys, and that truck were there to make a withdrawal.