December 2024: A technical summary can be found here. [I downloaded a somewhat fuzzy .jpg from RockyFlatsPuPlayground here. A cleaned-up PDF is on our website here.] Michael Ketterer and Jon Lipksy collected air samples at the former plant east gate on Indiana St, at the Refuge southeast Refuge gate, and at Colorado 128 at the…
(Damn–thought I’d published this on March 12th!) On Monday, March 11 the Westminster City Council appears to have capitulated to the usual earnest misinformation onslaught from the usual suspects: Peace&Justice, Jon Lipsky, Randy Stafford, Chris Allred, a Physicians for Social Responsibility spokesperson and an orchestrated phone-message campaign. This is a reminder (like Superior’s and Broomfield’s…
Case 1:24-CV-00061, Physicians for Social Responsibility et al v. Buttigieg et al was filed on January 8. The case will appear before Judge Timothy Kelly of the DC District Court. “In the absence of intervention by this Court, the health and safety of many individuals will be at risk due to exposure to nuclear contaminants…
Version 2 has been 5 years in coming. It has been a daunting task. In keeping with current beliefs about fighting misinformation, I have tried to warn people when they’re about to encounter junk information, and to make points graphically whenever I can. Among the most infuriating statements I have heard and read is that…
A recent applicant for at-large member of the Stewardship Council made this accusation at the September 19th Zoom meeting. The idea was quickly refuted by board members. This person appears to confuse metallic Pu (which in particle form can spontaneously burn and can react strongly with water) with PuO2, the form present in soil (indifferent…
As most will have noticed, on July 19th the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on the most recent legal attempt to block further development of the Refuge. A useful overview may be found in this news article. As noted there, “It seems like you’re trying to relitigate something that happened 15 years ago,”…
Rolling Stone has an important recent article by Justin Nobel [https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/oil-gas-fracking-radioactive-investigation-937389/ ] tracking recent attention focussed on radiation risks to workers who haul brine. He notes, “Radium, typically the most abundant radionuclide in brine, is often measured in picocuries per liter of substance and is so dangerous it’s subject to tight restrictions even at hazardous-waste sites….
Those who oppose public use of the Refuge have been busy distributing an extra-large helping of misinformation over the last few months. Perhaps the most insidious effect of the activist groups is that some members of local municipalities may believe that cancers can be somehow averted if only Rocky Flats were placed off limits to…
I apologize for the delay in getting survey results out; I was “holding my breath” while the Town of Superior filed its own lawsuit [Civil Action No. 1:18-cv-1746] on July 10th and until the principal court case ruling came in on August 9th. The Wildlife Refuge opened to the public on September 15th. Information about…
The Peace & Justice Center has claimed another feckless bureaucrat. Another public servant who should know better has permitted himself to be used as a political tool by a savvy set of activists. I had hoped to see in Dr. Carl (oops—Mark B) Johnson’s Denver Post guest commentary of 17th June [see https://www.denverpost.com/2018/06/15/after-decades-of-secrets-rocky-flats-still-gives-me-pause/ ] a…