Author: Dan Elliott
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Plutonium found in soil at Colorado’s Rocky Flats; 2nd test shows lower level
Elevated levels of plutonium were found in the soil near Rocky Flats, site of a former nuclear weapons plant outside Denver, while a second test showed far lower levels, health officials said Tuesday. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment said it is trying to sort out the conflicting results of tests done near…
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Near Denver and elsewhere, wildlife now roams where US once forged its deadliest weapons
From Rocky Flats to a tiny Pacific island, from the Rocky Mountain Arsenal to a leafy Indiana forest, a handful of sites where the United States manufactured and tested some of the most lethal weapons known to humankind are now peaceful havens for wildlife. An astonishing array of animals and habitats flourished on six obsolete…
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Farmers use tech to squeeze every drop from Colorado River
GREELEY • A drone soared over a blazing hot cornfield in northeastern Colorado one recent morning, snapping images with an infrared camera to help researchers decide how much water to give the crops the next day. After a brief, snaking flight above the field, the drone landed, and the researchers removed a handful of memory…
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Colorado farmers turn to tech in the face of water stress
GREELEY — A drone soared over a blazing hot cornfield in northeastern Colorado on a recent morning, snapping images with an infrared camera to help researchers decide how much water they would give the crops the next day. After a brief, snaking flight above the field, the drone landed and the researchers removed a handful…
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Feds can’t find files on investigation into Colorado’s Rocky Flats nuclear arms plant
The U.S. Department of Justice has lost track of more than 60 boxes of documents from a 27-year-old criminal investigation into safety and environmental violations at the former Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant in Colorado, officials said Tuesday. The files were gathered in a two-year grand jury probe of the Rocky Flats plant outside Denver,…
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U.S. has lost files on probe into Rocky Flats plant
DENVER • The U.S. Department of Justice has lost track of more than 60 boxes of documents from a 27-year-old criminal investigation into safety and environmental violations at the Rocky Flats former nuclear weapons plant near Boulder, officials said Tuesday. The files were gathered in the two-year grand jury probe of Rocky Flats, which manufactured…
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Feds: Moving BLM headquarters to Colorado will save money, improve decisions
The Trump administration says that it can save taxpayers millions of dollars, make better decisions and trim a “top heavy” office in Washington by moving the headquarters of the nation’s biggest land agency to Colorado and dispersing scores of jobs across 11 western states. Interior Department officials said they hope to open the new Bureau…
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EPA taking 1st big steps to clean up leaking Colorado mines
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will take the first major steps this summer to clean up wastewater flowing from dozens of old mines at a Superfund site in southwestern Colorado, officials said Thursday. The work includes dredging contaminated sediment from streams and ponds, diverting water away from tainted mine waste piles and covering contaminated soil…
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EPA sets long-term goals for Colorado mining Superfund site
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced three long-term goals Wednesday for cleaning up the Bonita Peak Mining District Superfund site in southwestern Colorado. The goals call for improving water quality in four sections of rivers and streams, stabilizing mine waste piles to keep more pollutants from leaching into waterways and preventing big releases of tainted water from…
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Gold company says EPA is mishandling Colorado mining cleanup
A gold company said the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is mismanaging the Superfund cleanup of nearly 50 old mining sites in southwestern Colorado and should be removed as the agency in charge. Sunnyside Gold Corp., which owns mining property in the Bonita Peak Superfund district, made the complaint Monday in a letter to the EPA.…