SILKWOOD LAWYER CALL FOR NUCLEAR, CIVIL RIGHT REFORM

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000605700056-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 2, 2010
• Sequence Number: 56
• Publication Date: January 30, 1984
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/02 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000605700056-4
UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL
30 January 1984
AME S , IOWA
SILK\tiOOD LAWYER CALL FOR NUCLEAR, CIVIL RIGHT REFORM
BY PAIGE ST. JOHN
Frustrated by what he calls government conspiracy, the general counsel for
the Karen Silkwood case Monday called.for reform of the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission and the Civil Rights Act.
Attorney Dan Sheehan, who won a $10.5 million Supreme Court decision for the
Silkwood estate this month, was at Iowa State University trying to gain support
for his cause.
Although Sheehan never was able to take the case to court, he said he has
proof the conspiracy to prevent Ms. Silkwood from exposing nuclear safety
hazards at the Kerr-McGee Corp. extended beyond what the recently released movie
shows.
Sheehan said he has documented CIA and FBI involvement in the case, from
CIA -kept files on Ms. Silkwood to electronic surveillance of her telephone
Calls .
Sheehan believes the nuclear energy industry got out of hand in Ms.
Silkwood's case ''and had the help of the federal government to do 5o.11 He sail
he is fighting to prevent such incidents from happening again.
Sheehan, who now specializes in civil rights and human rights cases, said he
i nts to take nuclear regulatory control out of the hands of the federal
government.
''We're advocating that the control of those facilities be given to state
legislatures," Sheehan said, adding the federal government has a ''conflict of
interest'' in nuclear energy that prevents it from safeguarding public health
and people like Karen Silkwood.
''We filed our law suit on that basis," Sheehan said, referring to a civil
law suit alleging Karen Silkwood's civil rights were violated by the ''federal
conspiracy" to prevent her from releasing documents proving Kerr-McGee's
alleged infractions of nuclear safety rules.
The case was lost, Sheehan said, because the court decided Kerr-McGee, and
not the federal government, had conducted surveillance and ''conspiracy''
against Silkwood.
Sheehan wants civil rights reform to include protect other people from
''private conspiracies."
After losing the civil rights suit, Sheehan pressed the $10.5 million damages
suit against Kerr-McGee for allowing Silkwood to be contaminated by plutonium
from the plant. He won that fight Jan. 11.
Still, Sheehan has never been able to press his claim that Kerr-McGee
deliberatly exposed Silkwood to the plutonium. He claims Kerr-McGee exposed
Silkwood to the plutonium by lacing food in her apartment with it.
''They never wanted to kill her,'' he said. ''All they were trying to do was
'max' her out, get a lifetime body burden (exposure to radiation) to make her
leave, to get her out of their hair.''
CCONTEVUED
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 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/02 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000605700056-4
He'was also never able to bring out evidence proving the existence of
documents showing nuclear safety violations at Kerr-McGee. But he said company
officials did show an interest in Ms. Silkwood's smashed car.
''They didn't want to kill her,'' Sheehan repeats. ''They just wanted to run
her off the road and get those documents back.''
Sheehan has been telling his Silkwood story for nine years. Now, with a movie
out, some people are listening. But that doesn't mean Sheehan agrees with ''The
Silkwood Story.'' He has a number of complaints.
''They were extraordinarily considerate of Kerr-McGee,'' Sheehan said.
''Kerr-McGee made a big campaign of smearing Karen Silkwood's character and Nora
Ephron (screenwriter for the movie) took all of that.''
Sheehan said the movie makers were afraid of a libel suit from Kerr-McGee and
included many errors and falsities about Karen Silkwood's character to appease
the company.
''It's like the Solomon tale with the baby,'' Sheehan said. ''In this case,
to please both sides, they (the movie writers) cut the baby in half.''
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/02 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000605700056-4