Judge: Public can use trails

Site of former nuclear weapons plant ruled to be safe for visitors

A site that was part of a nuclear weapons plant during the Cold War can be opened for hikers and cyclists in September, stoking fears among activists that all that activity will stir up dangerous plutonium particles to be inhaled or spread to nearby communities.

U.S. District Judge Philip A. Brimmer on Thursday rejected a request for a preliminary injunction that would have barred the planned opening of Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge northwest of Denver. A group of environmentalists and community activists had asked that the 5,000acre refuge be closed while the courts hear their lawsuit, which claims the government did not study the hazards posed by the refuge closely enough.

Brimmer said the activists had not shown that radioactive exposure at the site was bad enough to cause them irreparable harm, so they had not met the judicial standard for an injunction.

The judge said that both the Colorado health department and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency determined that the refuge presents “an extremely small” increased risk for cancer but was safe for unlimited use by workers and visitors.

However, the judge’s ruling was narrow in scope and didn’t address the broader merits of the lawsuit. Those include claims that government agencies did not do a good enough job cleaning up the site and making it safe enough for humans, said Randall Weiner, an attorney for the activists.

“In other words, where are the safest places to locate those trails?” Weiner said. “There are billions of those plutonium particles, and are you sure there are safer places than the sections they are opening up?”

Weiner said he will plan to file his written opening arguments early next week, adding that the judge should keep the refuge closed until the lawsuit is heard.

“We are extremely optimistic that the judge will ultimately rule in our favor that the (U.S Fish and Wildlife Service) has violated environmental laws by prematurely opening up the refuge to unlimited public access,” Weiner said.

Refuge manager David Lucas declined to comment.

Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge is bordered by Broomfield, Boulder and Jefferson counties and is managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. During the past year, several area school districts have banned field trips to Rocky Flats.

During the Cold War, Rocky Flats was one of 13 nuclear weapons plants in the United States and served as the primary manufacturer of trigger mechanisms, produced from various radioactive and hazardous materials including beryllium and plutonium. The site operated as a nuclear weapons plant from 1952 until 1989, when the FBI raided Rocky Flats to investigate allegations of environmental violations.

Jon Lipsky, a former FBI special agent who led the raid, testified at a July 17 hearing to weigh the merits of the preliminary injunction, that “there’s absolutely no need to open the refuge to public access.”

The specific area where plutonium was processed — on a plateau south of Boulder and about 16 miles northwest of Denver — underwent a $7 billion cleanup but remains closed to the public.

The buffer zone surrounding the manufacturing site was turned over to the Fish and Wildlife Service. It’s a mix of hills and wetlands that features elk, deer, songbirds, raptors and the Preble’s meadow jumping mouse, a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act.

Currently, the refuge is open only to guided hikes of small groups.

At the same July 17 hearing, Harvey Nichols, a retired University of Colorado professor, testified that when he analyzed the buffer zone during the 1970s, some areas had plutonium particles in concentrations up to 100 billion per acre (0.4 hectare).

Under cross-examination, Nichols acknowledged that he has not gone back to study the site since the EPA declared it safe in 2007.

Nichols said he wanted to but was unable to get funding.