SEATTLE -- A Seattle nuclear watchdog group is accusing the
federal government of failing to keep the public informed of
radiation from the Fukushima nuclear disaster. In the days
following the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, the U.S. began
monitoring radiation from Japan's leaking nuclear power plants.
Most of the public attention went to the air monitoring which
showed little or no radiation coming our way. But things were
different on the rain water side. "The level that was detected
on March 24 was 41 times the drinking water standard," said
Gerry Pollet from Heart of America Northwest. He reviewed Iodine
131 numbers released by the Environmental Protection Agency last
spring. "Our government said no health levels, no health levels
were exceeded.When in fact the rain water in the Northwest is
reaching levels 130 times the drinking water standards," said
Pollet. Elevated rain water samples were collected in Portland,
Olympia and Boise, which had the highest. But EPA officials say
the data was there for an