A state representative said Wednesday that the soil on the U.S. Army’s Piñon Canyon Maneuver Site in southeastern Colorado is filthy with high levels of uranium and suggested the Army is to blame.
Rep. Wes McKinley, a Democrat from Walsh whose district encompasses the massive training site south of La Junta, said soil samples from the site show levels substantially above statewide averages, making it almost certain that the levels are the result of human pollution. He demanded the federal government and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment investigate.
“I want to know what it is,” he said. “I’d like to know what’s causing that.”
Mark Salley, a spokesman for the state health department, said the training site is on federal land, meaning the department has no authority to regulate radioactive materials there. Uranium also occurs naturally in varying levels around Colorado, and Salley said the department does not think there is a public health concern from whatever uranium exists on the site, in part because the site is so large and remote.
“At this point the state health department isn’t considering it a health risk,” Salley said.
Army officials did not respond to requests for comment.
McKinley made his announcement at a news conference in which he also blasted the Army for not being transparent enough in its disclosure of information about a 48,000- acre fire on the site last week. He said he is concerned the fire could spread the uranium contamination.
“I think this fire proves that they have created a situation that is dangerous for the citizens of Colorado,” he said.
McKinley said he and several others concerned about a proposed expansion of the Piñon Canyon site collected soil samples during a May 2007 tour with Army officials. McKinley, who was the foreman of a grand jury that investigated government pollution at the Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant, said that experience as well as local anecdotes of trucks dumping toxic waste on the Piñon Canyon site caused him to take the samples.
Lab results show the samples contain uranium levels of 47 to 61 milligrams per kilogram, as well as high levels of other heavy metals.
Steve Tarlton, the head of the state health department’s radiation management unit, said the statewide average for soil uranium levels is 5 to 6 milligrams per kilogram, but he said some areas of the state see much higher naturally occurring levels.
“A level of 50 doesn’t alarm me,” he said. “I would more look at what exactly are we talking about. Was it something that was placed there or was it natural uranium?”
John Ingold: 303-954-1068 or jingold@denverpost.com.
