ArvadaforAllthePeople: April 2017

By Cindi Kreutzer

At the Monday, April 24, 2017, city council meeting workshop, there was a presentation from an outside consultant group about a project to create more in-depth citizen engagement with city staff and council. The topic was initiated by council member Nancy Ford (District 1).

After the presentation the council asked questions and made comments about the proposal. The following day their comments kept reverberating in my mind until I realized that I had to get some clarification. So, on the evening of Tuesday, April 25, I sent an email to all council members.

The original email and responses received can all be viewed as a .pdf file at this link:
Download Citizen Engagement Kreutzer Inquiry and Council Responses

Video Arvada City Council Workshop Meeting April 24, 2017

For Arvada government it is about normalizing danger to promote residential and commercial development on its border areas with Rocky Flats.

Rocky Flats wildlife refuge could see 2018 debut -- despite controversy | Boulder Daily Camera, February 25, 2017

* * *

Letter to the Editor

Anne Fenerty: Keep Rocky Flats closed to public recreation | Boulder Daily Camera, April 11, 2017

Re: "Safe Refuge?" (Daily Camera, Feb. 26): The article refers to a presentation about the planned opening of the Rocky Flats Wildlife Refuge to public recreation. Specifically it was a "sharing session" held on Feb. 22 at the Broomfield Community Center. The meeting was managed by a Boulder public relations firm hired by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) at a cost of $76,000.The public was asked to submit questions and make no comments.It was announced that those members who spoke would be escorted out.

To quote a letter to a local newspaper: "Newcomers have no idea what happened at Rocky Flats."

The present status of the 10-square-mile former nuclear weapons plant is that while the center of it is still a Superfund site, a designation for the worst polluted sites, the surrounding area has been declared clean and became the RF Refuge. Trails are planned and after FWS received $8 million from the Department of Energy (DOE), plans for construction of a visitor center were announced. This was the subject of the presentation.

Rocky Flats produced plutonium triggers for atomic bombs. The production facilities were mismanaged causing two huge plutonium fires and extensive soil contamination. Air, soils, creeks and groundwater were contaminated with plutonium, uranium and other carcinogens such as beryllium and chlorinated organic solvents.

In 1989 the plant ceased production as a result of an FBI/EPA raid for violation of environmental laws. The Superfund contamination will not be static. DOE's map of "subsurface features" shows plutonium process lines and contaminated building basements remaining. There has been no cleanup under six feet while prairie dogs dig down to 16 feet.

DOE announced 2,600 pounds of plutonium "missing, unaccounted for. 1 microgram of Pu inhaled is "potentially lethal" according to accepted science.

Winds and floods will carry contaminants to the refuge. The present plan for trails, as presented at a previous "sharing session" was co-hosted by the Boulder Mountain Bike Alliance. In the past DOE opposed any signage at the refuge. It is hoped that if the trails are built there will be at least warning to keep children off this polluted place.

FWS has closed other refuges such as the one at the White Sands missile base. Keep Rocky Flats closed to public recreation.

Anne Fenerty lives in Boulder.