Surrounded by the things she loves – the countryside, the horses she has rescued and her dogs – 73-year-old breast-cancer survivor Bini Abbott learned Tuesday of the multimillion-dollar Rocky Flats verdict handed down by a federal jury.
Abbott has been a neighbor of Rocky Flats for 46 years and lives on her ranch with her husband, Meade, 84, a mile southeast of the now-closed plant.
“It was a no-brainer,” said Abbott of the verdict.
The daughter of a doctor who has devoted her life to being what she describes as an “environmentalist” and “activist,” she was the first person in her area who called a lawyer, Bruce DeBoskey, about possibly pursuing legal action.
Later, then-Gov. Roy Romer appointed Abbott as a citizen representative to the Rocky Flats health advisory panel in 1990.
Abbott, dressed in sweats and her face smeared with dirt Tuesday, had been working with the horses she has rescued. She declined to be photographed, saying she wasn’t dressed in her “high society” clothes.
But Rocky Flats has been on her mind for years.
“I was worried about the health situation,” she said. “I had some crippled animals born, and I wanted to find out if Rocky Flats was responsible.”
She said not only were some of her animals deformed but that a neighbor, Lloyd Mixon, had a crippled pig named Scooter that added to her concerns.
So she started prying into Rocky Flats’ activities and keeping records.
And then she came down with breast cancer.
She said the lawsuit wasn’t about the money, it was just having people realize the impact that Rocky Flats had on the people living on farms and ranches near the plant.
“I’m just glad that they are aware that our land values have diminished,” Abbott said. “I know people who wouldn’t board horses out here” because of the fear of what the plant had done to her land.
She said that when she is working the ranch, and the wind blows from the north onto her land, “I will turn the other way.”
While Abbott said that the monetary verdict meant nothing to her, her husband, who has as sharp a wit as his wife of 48 years, grinned, spread his arms and said, “That will take care of us.”
A retired certified public accountant and baseball addict, Meade Abbott will soon travel south to Arizona to take in the Cactus League baseball spring training.
Just down the highway at another ranch, Sean Theorine, whose grandfather James Ralph Coleman and grandmother Alice Mae Coleman were heavily involved in the Rocky Flats lawsuit, lamented a loss.
James Coleman died last weekend, and his funeral will be Sunday.
“I’d be interested in finding out if his estate gets any money,” Theorine said.
Staff writer Howard Pankratz can be reached at 303-820-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com.
Other lawsuits stemming from weapons plants
Other lawsuits aimed at contamination and pollution generated from Cold War-era nuclear-weapons plants:
Fernald (Ohio) uranium processing plant. In October 1989, the Department of Energy agrees to a $78 million settlement in a class-action suit representing 14,000 residents over radioactive pollution generated by the plant. In July 1994, the department agrees to a $20 million-plus settlement to pay for lifetime medical monitoring for former plant workers and contractors. The case is under appeal.
Pantex (Texas) nuclear plant. In November 2002, contractor Mason & Hanger, which operated the plant, settles for an undisclosed sum with plant neighbors who claimed management practices contaminated their groundwater and devalued property.
Paducah (Ky.) Gaseous Diffusion Plant. In January 2004, a federal judge dismisses a lawsuit by 135 residents living within 10 miles who claimed the plant damaged their property by contaminating groundwater. The case is under appeal.
Hanford (Wash.) nuclear reservation. In 2005, former operators of the plant prevail in four of six cases in which plaintiffs claimed damaged health due to living downwind of the plant. The cases were seen as representative of thousands claiming similar illnesses; the victorious plaintiffs were awarded about $500,000. The case is under appeal.
Sources: The Associated Press and Denver Post archives. Compiled by Barry Osborne of the Denver Post Research Library.
