contamination

Too “Hot” to Burn? Community Concerns About Proposed Burn Gaining Media Attention

Candelas Glows members at the boundary between Candelas and Rocky Flats where Fish & Wildlife want to burn pesky weeds…

Community members along Colorado’s Front Range are bracing themselves for a possible 701-acre fire that US Fish & Wildlife wants to initiate on ex-nuclear SuperFund site, Rocky Flats. Community members as well as local politicians and municipalities are nearly begging Fish and Wildlife to cancel the burn due to fears of contamination. We echo the sentiments, based on the history of the site, the stories we continue to hear from family, neighbors and ex-workers who suffer physically, animals we have known and love who have gotten sick out there, and based on the previous burn that Fish & Wildlife undertook in 2000. Like the City of Arvada, the Town of Superior, the Rocky Flats Stewardship Council, Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice, and the 2,000+ people who have signed this petition, we do not want to breathe in the contaminated smoke that could billow from the site and its notorious high winds, nor do we want the risk of bare topsoil at the site– even if only briefly. That has gotten the media talking about this issue, from the Daily Camera and a host of other papers including the Examiner and Denver Post, to Fox News, to CBS, ABC. We were deeply dismayed at the recent Rocky Flats Stewarship Council Meeting when Fish and Wildlife seemed to say that they want to go ahead with the burn regardless of community outcry, municipality requests to cancel, and a known history of contamination at the site…. including the “hot spots” reported on by the Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment (see below). US Fish and Wildlife has reiterated they will only give 24-hour notice about the burn (as they assess wind patterns and weather). Here’s a little video with one of our awesome leaders, Alesya Casse explaining some of this in 50 seconds or less. Notice we do not advocate bringing goats onto the land to mitigate for weeds. We think solutions need to be vetted by scientists, officials and community members. Until then, let’s leave the site alone! Please take a moment to help spread the word. Thanks to the Daily Camera for the picture and video .

Click here to see CDPHE data: Pu in SW portion of RFNWR-1.jpg

Awareness Raising and Show of Support Planned for Sat July 19 2014. Join Us!

“Today We Made a 250,000 Year Commitment”

In 1990-1991, artist John Freeman created a billboard series to bring attention to the potentially toxic and hazardous operations of Rocky Flats. He was warning us that every day the plant was in operation, it was creating waste that would keep the site toxic for hundreds of thousands of years. Now, after only a few decades and 25 years after the FBI/EPA raid that shut down the plant, development is underway and planned in ways no one would have imagined then because of the known contamination. Many locals, experts, ex-officials and ex-workers are horrified at pending underway developments in the area that could still pose a public health threat. But many people thinking about recreating or moving into housing developments like Candelas and Whisper Creek are moving from outside the area and often from outside the state.

As much of this development has been pushed through with attempts to minimize debate and sweep concerns under (the radioactive) rug, locals have been beginning to gather voicing their collective concerns. We will again be gathering to raise awareness about Rocky Flats’ controversial, contaminated past and keep its memory alive so that people can be protected from its potential hazards.

Join us on Sat, July 19th at 11:00am

at the corner of Indiana & McIntyre in Arvada

at the Candelas new housing development.

Check out the Facebook event page and share: https://www.facebook.com/events/1509951512549741/

We’ll educate and raise awareness, discuss, and take action to say no to development around Rocky Flats, no to opening a “wildlife refuge” on contaminated soil, no to a plutonium parkway, and no to pumping water from the Western slope to feed over-sized, controversial housing. We want communities, children and animals nearby and downwind to be protected and ex-workers to be honored and treated. We’ll have information, signs, and extra has-mat suits for those who want them.

For those who’d like more information first or who would like to help make signs and prepare can come to a teach-in Wednesday July 16th from 6pm to 7:55pm ** LOCATION CHANGED: at the Lakewood Public Library.**

Another Housing Development Comes Aglow

KB Homes hosts a Grand Opening this weekend Westwoods Mesa When we began making waves about Candelas, people asked why we hadn’t targeted some of the other developments in the area. After looking at some of the contamination maps, we realized they were right! The concerns are not just with Candelas by any means. Along with Candelas and Whispering Creek, here’s another (beautiful) new development from which we hope no workers or residents are harmed.

File:Plutonium plume from the 1957 fire at Rocky Flats, per Colorado state dept of public health.gif

Map of contamination from the 1957 fire according to CDPHE via wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Plutonium_plume_from_the_1957_fire_at_Rocky_Flats,_per_Colorado_state_dept_of_public_health.gif

Great Interview on KGNU!

KGNU’s Irene Rodriguez did an in-depth interview with Michelle Gabrieloff-Parish, local mom and accidental Rocky Flats activist opposing further development around the site.

Here she talks about flooding, plutonium timescales, how a mother of three ends up being served cease and desist papers from a powerful corporation, and the need to make a memorial out of the old nuclear weapons plant (NOT a “Wildlife Refuge”)… and why you might need to buy your water for now if you live in the area.

This is the third piece on Rocky Flats the station has done since the 1,000 year flood the site recently experienced.

http://www.kgnu.org/metro/10/7/2013