Welcome to the neighborhood!
In keeping with the philosophy of this website, very little will be said about the history of the area, since the issues for newcomers are primarily what is here now.
If you are a newcomer to Colorado or the Denver metro area the history of this area may not be fully known to you. (Also check out the Newcomers link in the top menu.). If you are a long-timer you may not know what to believe, depending on where you get your information. The issue for many are the health implications of the radiation legacy of a former plutonium processing plant with poor disposal practices until about 1969.
As DMW noted in a Nextdoor post, if you focus on what has been measured rather than on history, great clarity emerges about safety. You should believe no statement below `because I said so’–every one is discussed at greater length in the website’s Science documents.
New residents need to accept their role as new stakeholders in what happens to the RF Wildlife Preserve and exert their political influence. Reminder: We hugely outnumber those opposed (see below), but until we our voices are heard they will be drowned out by very opinionated people with no ‘skin in the game’.
Residents
Candelas [www.point2homes.com/US/Neighborhood/CO/Candelas-Demographics.html]
Whisper Creek [https://www.point2homes.com/US/Neighborhood/CO/Whisper-Creek-Demographics.html]
Leyden https://www.point2homes.com/US/Neighborhood/CO/Leyden-Demographics.html
Village of Five Parks https://statisticalatlas.com/neighborhood/Colorado/Arvada/Five-Parks/Population
Skyestone: 519 households
More on anti-Refuge activists?
See POLITICS in top bar.
Government entities relevant to Rocky Flats
Federal:
U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Legacy Management (DOE/LM) https://www.energy.gov/lm/rocky-flats-site-colorado
The Department of Energy subcontracted the management of the Rocky Flats plant and thus bears partial responsibility sloppy practices there. The DOE continues to subcontract management of nuclear facilities to often large for-profit military contractor corporations and continues to suffer safety-related blunders as a consequence. [See ongoing reports under the heading nuclear negligence at the Pulitzer Prize-winning Center for Public Integrity https://www.publicintegrity.org].
However, the Office of Legacy Management should not be tarred with the same brush. Its goals include (from their web site) to:
- Protect human health and the environment
- Preserve, protect, and share records and information
- Safeguard former contractor workers’ retirement benefits
- Sustainably manage and optimize the use of land and assets
- Sustain management excellence
- Engage the public, governments, and interested parties
Most documents it publishes are technical and not readily digestible by citizens who do not know the history and nomenclature of the site. The last few goals may not have the funding they would like.
The DOE Rocky Flats Site Manager for the Office of Legacy Management is Andrew Keim.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service [https://www.fws.gov/refuge/rocky_flats/]
Now manages the part of the Rocky Flats that is not part of the off-limits DOE “Legacy Site”. See a clear map of proposed use of the Preserve at https://www.fws.gov/uploadedFiles/RockyFlatsNWR_ProposedVisitorFacilitiesMap.pdf
David Lucas is the current manager for the Rocky Flats Wildlife Refuge.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency [https://www.epa.gov/co]
This appears mostly useful as a repository of documents related to Rocky Flats. Want to know about radioactivity levels around Rocky Flats in 1970? This is the place for you.
State
The Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment [https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/cdphe/rocky-flats]
This is perhaps the best source of comprehensible, comprehensive, and up-to-date documents about the history of the site and ongoing research. The fabulous current state project manager Lindsay Murl succeeded the fabulous Carl Spreng, both exceptionally knowledgeable.
Quasi-governmental entities
Rocky Flats Stewardship Council [http://rockyflatssc.org]
Meets at least four times per year. Membership consists of `local stakeholders’: Jefferson and Boulder counties, City and County of Broomfield, and the cities of Arvada, Boulder, Golden, Northglenn, Thornton, Westminster. The meetings are seldom riveting, but provide a good view of the nuts and bolts of the careful federal oversight (at least at present) of the ‘donut hole’ (DOE-controlled part) inside the Refuge. A good place to watch uninformed anti-Refuge sentiment play out.
The current members of its Board of Directors is available at the URL http://www.rockyflatssc.org/board_of_directors.html
David Abelson is the current director and principal contact for the RF Stewardship Council. He has the patience of a saint.
Websites opposing public use of the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge: Look here.
Websites supporting public use of the Refuge
https://rockyflatsneighbors.org [OUR web site, set up April 2016]
http://www.candelasrockyflats.com Set up by Candelas developers, January 2013.
https://www.sandrabornstein.com/assessing-risks-living-near-rocky-flats/ An older blog about why the author chose to live near Rocky Flats.
http://rockyflatsfacts.com The website associated with the book An Insider’s View of Rocky Flats: Urban Myths Debunked, by a former employee, Farrel D. Hobbs. The author endorsed our website before he died in 2018.