Watchdog groups send new information to district judge in Rocky Flats development fight
It's been 35 years since an FBI raid, but the ghosts of Rocky Flats Plant in the Foothills still exist in every step you take. After years of environmental remediation and legal settlements, a new fight is brewing over potential greenway trails that would cut through the preserve.
Dr. Michael Ketterer is an analytical chemist, professor emeritus at Northern Arizona University and a former EPA employee. He explained, "Both my work and the government's work show that there's plutonium in elevated concentrations in this area where we're standing,"
Using a series of air filters on high wind days, Ketterer took readings on April 6 and ran them through his lab. The results, he said, were traces of plutonium in the air that exceeded the state's safety standards. Along with former FBI agent John Lipsky, whose affidavit led to the raid in 1989, Ketterer is hoping for an injunction so the air quality in the area can be studied further.
"How much plutonium is going with us?" Ketterer opined. "I guess the end I'd like to see is to try and answer those scientific questions."
Plutonium is at its most dangerous when inhaled or ingested and can be linked to lung, liver and bone cancer in workers who handle the radioactive material.
The U.S. Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Agency has said that adequate work has been done on the area and that it is safe for recreation and residential living along the periphery of the preserve.
The greenway would create trails that go through the area and a long-discussed highway connection of Highway 470 (dubbed the Jefferson Parkway) is still up in the air over the environmental concerns. These new findings concern Dr. Ketterer and Lipsky, who say that construction and the digging or kicking up of dirt and dust can have an adverse effect on the neighboring population, specifically those that use the Westminster Hills Park just across Indiana Ave.
"Maybe math isn't my strong suit, but it doesn't take much to put together that we've got a real serious problem with this facility," Lipsky said. "With the thousands and thousands of contaminants and chemicals that were used out here, how can anybody say it's not going to move?"
The notification alleges that, on high wind days, the traces of plutonium laden dust can present a health risk for certain populations or individuals in close proximity to the park.
"Basically, it's leaving the site, and it's moving off of government property and into Broomfield and Westminster property on that date," Dr. Ketterer mentioned.
It's a reminder, they say, of a period that some Front Range residents might not even recall but could feel whether they know it or not.
"Someone peppered the gumbo pretty out bad out here," Lipsky said. "And when the wind blows -- I hate to say it -- it's not safe."
