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“INTRODUCTION OF THE WHISTLEBLOWER RECOVERY ACT OF 2007” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Energy was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E1622-E1623 on July 26, 2007.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
INTRODUCTION OF THE WHISTLEBLOWER RECOVERY ACT OF 2007
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HON. MARK UDALL
of colorado
in the house of representatives
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Mr. UDALL of Colorado. Madam Speaker, today I am introducing the Whistleblower Recovery Act of 2007.
This bill is in response to a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision involving a claim under the False Claims Act by Mr. James Stone, who had worked at Rocky Flats when that Colorado site was a nuclear weapons facility of the Department of Energy.
The decision not only denied his claim but also interpreted the law in a way that had the effect of narrowing the definition of potential
``whistleblowers.'' To correct this narrow interpretation, this bill would make it clear that potential ``whistleblowers'' can include those who divulge knowledge of an alleged wrongdoing--even though such a whistleblower may not have had knowledge of the direct way in which the wrongdoing progressed--as long as the ``whistleblower'' disclosed the allegation and that the wrongdoing would not have been discovered and fines assessed were it not for the disclosure of the whistleblower.
The False Claims Act, codified in title 31, United States Code, was established to encourage the disclosure of wrongdoing by Federal agencies or those contracting with or otherwise working on behalf of Federal agencies by allowing so-called ``whistleblowers'' to recover a portion of any awards recovered from judicial proceedings from such disclosures.
On March 27, 2007, the United States Supreme Court, in Rockwell International Corp. v. United States, ruled Mr. Stone, a former employee at the Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant of the United States Department of Energy, was not entitled to recovery under the False Claims Act regarding the failure of a component of the cleanup of this site.
The Court found that even though Mr. Stone was an ``independent source'' of allegations regarding the failure of the cleanup activity--
and of the public disclosure of those allegations--he could not recover because he did not have direct knowledge of the precise way that the failure occurred and was determined at trial. As a result, the Court concluded that it did not have jurisdiction to determine whether Mr. Stone was entitled to recovery.
The Court's ruling may have the undesired effect of discouraging
``whistleblowers'', as it could make it harder for them to gain access to the Court in order to prove that they may be entitled to recovery as an ``original source'' under the False Claims Act. By requiring that purported ``whistleblowers'' must know of the precise way in which an allegation or transaction of wrongdoing occurs, the Court set a high and potentially insurmountable hurdle for ``whistleblowers'' to meet.
In the best interest of public policy--and to encourage people to come forward and disclose allegations of wrongdoing--it's necessary to make it clear that ``whistleblowers'' need only have direct knowledge of the public disclosure of the allegations or transactions and not of the precise way in which the wrongdoing occurs.
In other words, if an action would not have been brought and an award granted under the False Claims Act but for the public disclosures of the
``whistleblower,'' that ``whistleblower'' should be allowed an award under the False Claims Act.
Madam Speaker, this bill cannot help Mr. Stone. Not only did he lose his legal effort to recover as a ``whistleblower,'' regrettably, he died shortly after the Supreme Court issued its decision in his case. A short obituary from the Rocky Mountain News appears below.
But the bill's purpose is to properly respect and encourage the efforts of ``whistleblowers'' like Mr. Stone who call out possible fraud, waste and abuse of taxpayer money. We should not find ways to keep them from the courthouse door, but rather should find ways to keep that door open--and even responsibly widen it--so that
``whistleblowers'' can have their day in court and seek the compensation they deserve. This bill will help in that regard, and it is a fitting way to remember and honor the courageous efforts of Mr. Stone and others like him.
Rocky Flats Whistle-Blower Dies at 82
James Stone recently lost bid for $1 million
(By Laura Frank and Ann Imse)
James Stone was an engineer to the core. And that made it impossible for him to leave a problem until it was solved.
His hardscrabble life in a Depression-era orphanage and his hard-won engineering degree led to his career-defining challenge: being the chief whistle-blower on environmental crimes at the Rocky Flats nuclear weapons site near Denver.
``He would work on a problem round the clock,'' son Bob said. ``That's what got him in trouble at Rocky Flats. He wanted to solve the problems, not ignore them.''
Stone, who suffered from Alzheimer's, died Wednesday at the Julia Temple Center in Englewood. He was 82.
Stone, who worked at Rocky Flats from 1980 to 1986, was the first Flats insider to go to the FBI with details of the radioactive pollution released by the site contractor, Rockwell International.
Rockwell pleaded guilty to 10 environmental crimes and paid
$18.5 million in fines.
Stone filed a whistle-blower fraud case against Rockwell and won $4.2 million in damages for the federal government. Just two weeks ago, after an 18-year fight, the U.S. Supreme Court denied him a $1 million share in those damages.
``He died with nothing more than the clothes on his back and the love of his family and friends,'' Bob Stone said. ``I know if he had it to do all over again, even knowing how it turned out, he would have done it just the same.''
Stone was born in 1924. His parents couldn't afford to keep him during the Depression, his son said, so he went to a Catholic orphanage in St. Louis. As a young teen, a family with a coal business took him in.
Barred from World War II because of a hearing problem, he worked on engineering jobs in Alaska, on the Air Force Academy chapel and on the Brown Palace heating system. He worked on missile silos in Idaho and Wyoming, and surveyed a pipeline across Greenland. He also invented a sewage treatment system for rural mountain homes and a municipal trash incinerator.
Stone helped design Rocky Flats before it opened in 1952, and he warned against the location ``because Denver was downwind a few miles away,'' said his longtime attorney and friend Hartley Alley.
Jon Lipsky, the FBI agent who led the 1989 raid on Rocky Flats, said Stone ``was the first one who worked at the plant to talk to me.''
Stone's job was to identify problems at the plant and recommend solutions. So he was able to give the FBI a road map, Alley said.
Alley said Stone was the source of a key allegation in the FBI search warrant--that Rockwell was incinerating radioactive waste in secret at night. That charge was dropped when Rockwell settled the criminal case, and prosecutors said it wasn't true. But Alley says he had two other clients who witnessed it.
Stone's motivation for filing the whistle-blower lawsuit in 1989 was patriotic, Alley said. ``He felt the people who operated Rocky Flats in the 1980s were guilty of treason'' by building nuclear weapons that wouldn't explode, Alley said.
In the fraud suit, Stone alleged that Rockwell was defrauding the government by taking money for building faulty weapons while polluting the environment. Proving faulty production was impossible because the evidence was classified, Alley said.
Jim Stone ``wasn't afraid of jumping into anything,'' his son said. ``The world is a better place with people like him.''
Stone is survived by his wife Virginia, sons Bob, of Lakewood, and Randy, of Wheat Ridge, five grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his eldest son, James Stone Jr.
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