On Thursday May 23rd, the Boulder County Commissioners will have an administrative meeting to review their participation in the Rocky Mountain Greenway project.

The Rocky Mountain Greenway is a proposed mountain biking trail, intended to encircle Rocky Flats, one of the most contaminated former nuclear weapons sites in the nation. Due to the public health risks, we are asking Boulder County Commissioners to halt construction and withdraw from the Rocky Mountain Greenway.

There has been a major new development in Boulder County's position: on January 30th 2024 Boulder County voted to officially adopt a position that opposes recreation at Rocky Flats! Now we need to hold the Boulder County Commissioners true to this commitment.

Rocky Flats, which borders Boulder, Superior, Westminster, Arvada, Denver, and Golden, was once a nuclear weapons plant that produced 70,000 plutonium pits for nuclear bombs between 1952 and 1989. The site was shut down in 1989 after an FBI raid found severe environmental violations. To this day, the site remains heavily contaminated.

Full cleanup of the site was supposed to cost $36.6 billion and take 65 years, but the "partial cleanup" totaled $7 billion and ended in 2005. Recent studies show that the site is still widely contaminated with plutonium and other radioactive contaminants. Although the land at the center of Rocky Flats is still listed as an EPA Superfund site, city governments have been tasked (through a Federal Lands Access Program Grant) to support the construction of a mountain biking trail circling the perimeter of the most contaminated part of the nuclear site.

Due to public health concerns, the Town of Superior and Broomfield have already withdrawn from the project. Westminster City Council recently agreed to have a balanced study session before proceeding with further construction of the Rocky Mountain Greenway.  Now we are asking Boulder County to do the same.

The Boulder County Commissioners have some authority over the 120th Street underpass and its connection to Boulder County land.

Please send a 1-click letter to the Boulder County Commissioners today, urging them to halt construction. In the best interest of public health they should withdraw from the Rocky Mountain Greenway.