Rocky Flats could be dangerous

Re: just geochemist, Krista carries “A that: visit Kafer’s “opinion.” little to hydrologist, Rocky risk opinion ... Flats She ,” July is piece National atmospheric neither 20 on commentary Rocky Wildlife a chemist, scientist, Flats Refuge is or doesn’t of an plutonium expert understand on radioactivity. particulates. the argument She Like falls of many, the into lethality she the pablum not the argument of “background of the many radioactivity,” qualified which scientists is who have studied the site extensively and objectively, and who understand the dangers of the lethal toxins remaining “in our collective back yard.”

A study is only as good as the questions to be answered by it. Most don’t understand that questions answered in the past (like, how “clean” are the top 6 inches of soil upon remediation) have nothing to do with many of the questions being asked now: How will burrowing animals affect the deeper soil profiles, bringing lethal particulates to the surface? How will the vicious windstorms that regularly blast this land distribute those particulates, landing in lungs, in gardens to be uptaken in one’s food, and more? How will flood events, such as recorded in 2013, transport these “nasties” off the site, to nearby neighborhoods? There is much we still don’t know about the site — operations and accidents were largely kept in secret. We don’t yet know what we don’t know! R.L. Rittmaster, Superior