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About POGO's Federal Contractor Misconduct Database (FCMD)

The government awards contracts to companies with histories of misconduct such as contract fraud and environmental, ethics, and labor violations. In the absence of a centralized federal database listing instances of misconduct, the Project On Government Oversight (POGO) is providing such data. We believe that it will lead to improved contracting decisions and public access to information about how the government spends hundreds of billions of taxpayer money each year on goods and services. Report an instance of misconduct »

Boeing Company

Rocky Flats Radioactive Waste Pollution

Date: 06/02/2008 (Date of Final Judgment)

Misconduct Type: Environment

Enforcement Agency: Non-Governmental

Contracting Party: Energy

Court Type: Civil

Amount: $89,400,000

Disposition: Judgment Against Defendant

Synopsis: A Denver federal court ordered Boeing and Dow Chemical Company to pay 12,000 homeowners $926 million for contaminating their property with radioactive waste from the Department of Energy’s Rocky Flats Nuclear Weapons Plant. The court fined Dow $653.3 million and Boeing $508.1 million in compensatory damages, but set a cap of $725.9 million dollars for both companies. The court also fined Dow $110.8 million and Boeing $89.4 million in punitive damages. The fines were imposed pursuant to a February 2006 jury verdict that found the companies responsible for plutonium waste that leaked from the plant, located 15 miles northwest of Denver. The homeowners originally filed suit in 1990 against Dow and defense contractor Rockwell International Corp., which Boeing acquired in 1996. The final judgment notes that Boeing “is successor-in-interest to Rockwell International Corporation and has represented to the Court that it is answerable for any judgment rendered against Rockwell International Corporation in this matter.” Dow operated the Rocky Flats plant from 1953 to 1975, and Rockwell from 1975 until it closed in 1994.