Local groups concerned about residual contamination
By VIVIENNE JANNATPOUR
Colorado Daily Staff
March 8, 2004
Starting this week, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) will be hosting public meetings looking for input on the draft Comprehensive Conservation Plan (CCP) for the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge.
And even though many groups are concerned about public access to a site they say may be dangerous due to residual radioactive contamination, officials are adamant that site cleanup issues are outside the scope of this plan.
"I understand that people are frustrated that we're not discussing clean up levels in our plan, but we don't have the responsibility or the authority to tell the DOE (Department of Energy) how clean is clean. We only have the authority to make decisions about how we're going to manage the wildlife refuge after it's certified clean and safe by the EPA," said Dean Rundle, Refuge Manager for the USFWS.
Rocky Flats, located just south of Boulder, produced plutonium and uranium components for nuclear weapons from 1952 until 1989. A cleanup effort began in 1995.
Jacob Smith, Executive Director of the Center for Native Ecosystems, said their main concern is maintaining the focus of the refuge on protecting wildlife habitat, with public access as an acceptable, but secondary, goal. He supports foot and bike trails, but said he feels they need to be on the periphery of the site, leaving the interior protected as wildlife habitat.
"If you're trying to protect this place for its wildlife value, the last thing you want to do is have a bunch of people and dogs and activity running right up the middle of it," he said.
Also, Smith added, putting trails at the perimeter of the site could alleviate some of the contamination concerns, since most of the contamination originated in the center of the site, where the buildings are located. This area will not be part of the refuge and will be closed to the public and managed and monitored by the DOE.
While the Sierra Club's main concerns about public access are related to contamination, they said even when considering wildlife habitat conservation alone, they still feel strongly that public access should be limited.
"If there is habitat there that is important and wildlife you want to protect, then you don't want to have trails through it, you don't want to have people going off trail, and you don't want to have the introduction of weeds from that process," said Kirk Cunningham with the Sierra Club.
Laurie Shannon, USFWS planning team leader for the refuge, said most of the trails planned are old gravel roads that will be narrowed by restoring the sides to natural vegetative states, and the only new trails that are planned are meant to avoid going into riparian habitat.
"There are a few trails that do cross a riparian area, but there are very few, and even some of those will be closed seasonally and will be footpaths, a couple of feet wide," she added.
Shannon said that while a lot of people are focusing on the public use aspect of the plan, "there's a lot more in that plan that speaks to the types of things we'll do for wildlife habitat," she said.
Still, most interested groups find it hard to discuss the plan without expressing their concern for public safety while allowing access to a site with a history of contamination of toxicants, specifically plutonium.
Jane Uitti, Policy Analyst for the Boulder County Commissioner's office, said she and Commissioner Paul Danish, both members of the Rocky Flats Coalition of Local Governments, favor the most limited-access alternatives.
"We're concerned about the previous lack of oversight and the potential that stuff can show up at a later date, even in the refuge area," Uitti said.
Others said they feel the long-term contamination of plutonium constitutes a permanent danger.
"It remains dangerously radioactive for more than a quarter-of-a-million years. That's essentially forever as far as habitation on the planet is concerned," said LeRoy Moore with the Rocky Mountain Peace & Justice Center.
A high level of caution is wiser than misrepresenting the character of the site to the public and treating it as if it's safe, Moore said.
"We call it green washing the site. In effect they're green washing a contaminated site," he added.
Concerns about contamination will be heard at the CCP meetings and questions will be answered. "But we're not going to get into a cleanup discussion," Rundle said.
Public involvement in the cleanup process is welcomed at the Rocky Flats Citizen's Advisory Board monthly meetings, which are attended by the DOE, the EPA, and the Colorado Department of Health, all co-signers of the Rocky Flats Cleanup Agreement. Someone from the USFWS also attends, Rundle said.
Citizens can also contact their local elected officials who are members of the Rocky Flats Coalition of Local Governments.
"There are lots of venues to get to the decision makers about the cleanup," said Rundle.
Under the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge Act of 2001, the 6,240-acre Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site will become the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge following certification from the EPA that cleanup and closure have been completed. At that time, the USFWS will assume management responsibility for the site.
Once finalized, the CCP will guide the management of refuge operations, habitat restoration and visitor services for the next 15 years.
For meeting dates and locations and more information about the CCP, go to http://rockyflats.fws.gov.
"We'd really like to hear from the public their comments and feedback about things that are within the scope of the plan," said Rundle.