Rocky Flats Soil Sampling Proposed As Refuge Controversy Swirls

BROOMFIELD, CO – A public meeting regarding soil sampling on the Rocky Flats site will take place July 24 in Boulder County.

Public comments are being requested on a Sampling and Analysis Plan which will be co-sponsored by Jefferson County, City of Boulder, Boulder County, City and County of Broomfield, City of Westminster and City of Arvada. The open house will take place at 5:30 - 7:30 p.m. at the East Boulder Recreation Center, 5660 Sioux Dr, Boulder.

The soil will be tested at two points on the edge of the proposed 5,237-acre Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service plans to open in the fall. The 2-acre area where the actual weapons plant was located will not be accessible to the public. The soil samples will be part of the plans for the Rocky Mountain Greenway Trail, which will eventually connect the three Front Range National Wildlife Refuges (Rocky Mountain Arsenal, Two Ponds and Rocky Flats) with Rocky Mountain National Park through "an interconnected, multi-use, regional trail system," organizers say.

Testers will be looking for plutonium, uranium another toxic and radioactive particles in the dirt left over from the $7 billion cleanup of the Rocky Flats nuclear bomb-making facility, plagued by fires and leaking barrels of contaminates for 40 years, that finally closed down in the 1990s.

Meanwhile, a group of activists have filed suit appealing to a federal judge to block the opening of the refuge until more tests have been conducted. Plaintiffs argue that the toxic waste cleanup was insufficient and that recreational use of the land will dislodge contaminated soil particles, especially since winds can reach up to 100 mph on the prairie land around the proposed refuge. (See complaint here.)

The City of Superior, which borders the refuge area, also filed suit asking the opening of refuge be halted until further environmental testing is done.

The US Fish and Wildlife Service and the Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment say they are confident the site is safe for recreational use. But JeffCo Public Health's Executive Director Mark Johnson filed a statement in federal court saying he would not "buy a home, nor would I raise children down-wind from Rocky Flats." Johnson also said, "I also think it is unwise to build shopping centers and schools there, and to open Rocky Flats to field trips and picnics."

Image via U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

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