Federal wildlife officials bowed to a public outcry over plutonium concerns Friday and postponed a controlled burn to improve grasslands and prevent wildfires at Rocky Flats, the site of a Cold War bomb factory that became an environmental disaster.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials said they still favor — based on science — as the best way to convert Rocky Flats into a healthy wildlife refuge and protect a massive new housing development in the area.
But “we have heard concerns from the public and we want to take time to engage in further dialogue on these issues,” Noreen Walsh, regional director of the agency, said in a prepared statement.
Walsh pointed out that the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, U.S. Department of Energy and others have approved the controlled burn, which was scheduled for March or April.
“As good neighbors, we want to assure the public that safety is our absolute priority,” her statement says. “While we believe all of our proposed management actions at Rocky Flats are safe both for our own employees and the public, we understand the public’s concerns about the risks of burning and are committed to finding the right management balance for the refuge.”
A coalition of west metro elected officials and residents opposed the project partly because of fears that a burn could release plutonium particles into the air upwind of metro Denver.
Fish and Wildlife officials said postponing the burn means they must turn to another option this year to address a growing potential for uncontrolled wildfire and the spread of invasive weeds.
They’re looking at spraying chemicals to kill weeds, deploying cows or goats to graze on grasslands, or mowing.
“Whether it is goats or cows or something else, we will look at anything we can to deal with the issues out there,” USFWS deputy regional director Matt Hogan said.
“At least for now, the burn is not a tool we can use. The science was pretty clear to us that a burn was in no shape or form unsafe. But it was pretty clear from the public that we needed to have further dialogue.”
Bruce Finley: 303-954-1700 or bfinley@denverpost.com
