Some Jefferson County residents are concerned that top state health department officials reversed a staff recommendation and will allow contaminated dirt from the Colorado School of Mines to be buried in a landfill near Golden.
“The government and business are walking hand in hand these days, and when it becomes a money issue, the welfare of the public takes a back seat,” said Daryl Shute, who lives in unincorporated Jefferson County.
The School of Mines is cleaning up dirt from The Colorado School of Mines Research Institute, a nonprofit corporation that worked with radioactive materials. The school plans to turn the area into ball fields.
The school has about 2,000 cubic yards of contaminated dirt to dispose. There will be an additional undetermined amount of waste dug up by spring.
Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment staffers recommended in July that the dirt go to a landfill in Adams County instead of the Jefferson County landfill.
That would have cost the school at least $115,000 more, according to a memo obtained by 9News and provided to The Denver Post.
“We feel that the cost is reasonable because it buys added protectiveness in landfill design and operation,” the July 12 memo said.
But department executive director Doug Benevento said both landfills have exactly the same state permits and both could accept the waste without any danger to the environment.
