The Controversial History and Future of Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge

By: Gabe Gonzalez

A Colorado watchdog group has filed a federal lawsuit to prevent the construction of the Rocky Flats Greenway due to the risk of plutonium contamination. The Greenway would connect Westminster Open Space to Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge.

The Rocky Flats site has a rich and controversial history, which is at the heart of the current legal dispute. Prior to its designation as a National Wildlife Refuge in 2007, the area was a key site for the development of plutonium pits or triggers during the Cold War. The facility was operated by outside contractors, Dow Chemicals and later Rockwell International, under the ownership of the U.S. Department of Energy.

The operation of the Rocky Flats facility was marred by several environmental disasters. In 1957, a fire broke out, leading to the creation of an 'infinity room' with radiation levels too high to be measured. Then, on Mother’s Day of 1969, another fire occurred, which was the most expensive fire in the United States at that time, requiring two years of cleanup. Unlike the 1957 fire, this incident could not be concealed, marking a turning point in public awareness of the facility's operations.

Then, in 1970, the public became aware that drums containing plutonium had been leaching plutonium into the soil, a fact the facility was aware of since 1959. In 1972, Researchers discovered radioactive substances in local reservoirs, prompting the federal government to purchase a buffer zone around the facility. Still, radioactive substances continued to be found outside the buffer zone, resulting in the federal government expanding the buffer zone surrounding the facility again. Despite the federal government’s best efforts, word of the spread of radioactive substances traveled quickly, and protests were staged, one of which consisted of over 3,500 protestors. Still, nothing was done until 1987, when a facility employee was contaminated by a faulty incinerator, resulting in the DOE issuing a shutdown order for the incinerator until it met safety requirements, an order that was reportedly ignored.

Then, on June 6th, 1989, FBI agents dressed in plain clothes entered the facility, claiming to be investigating a potential threat by an eco-terrorist group, buying time for 70 more FBI and EPA agents to raid the plant. During the raid, the FBI and EPA found diaries belonging to the facility manager that outlined how the facility contributed to environmental contamination and violated laws. Although the facility was resultingly closed, the U.S. Attorney declined to sign the indictment, resulting in no criminal charges.

The facility was then listed as a Superfund site under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), with the DOE estimating cleanup to take 65 years and cost more than 35 billion dollars. Yet, ten years later, after an accelerated cleanup costing only 7 billion dollars, the cleanup was declared nearly complete. In 2006, the DOE, EPA, and CDPHE jointly issued a final cleanup corrective action decision/record of decision ("CAD/ROD"), recommending continued DOE jurisdiction over 1,308 acres that required further cleanup but finding the surrounding property "acceptable for unrestricted use and unlimited exposure.” The surrounding buffer zone was transferred from the DOE to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and became Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge in 2007.

In 2023, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the U.S. Department of Transportation published a final rule approving the Rocky Flats NWR Trails and Rocky Mountain Greenway Connections Project in Jefferson County, Colorado. This rule comes four years after Bill Ray, the executive director of the Jefferson Parkway Authority, a governmental authority made up of Jefferson County, Arvada, and Broomfield, disclosed that a plutonium particle measuring 264 picoCuries per gram (pCi/g) had been detected in a sample along the eastern edge of the Refuge in the Jefferson Parkway transportation corridor near the now-proposed Greenway route.

This discovery and the subsequent approval of the Greenway’s construction prompted various public health nonprofits to file suit; among the plaintiffs is Jon Lipsky, a retired FBI agent who participated in the raid on the fateful June 6th, 1989. The lawsuit alleges that the construction will result in more potential toxin exposure for citizens in the surrounding area. Despite the best efforts of Lipsky and other concerned parties, USFWS workers have since begun construction on the Greenway at the west end of Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge.