On Tuesday August 13th the Boulder County Commissioners voted 2-1 to remain in the IGA for the Rocky Mountain Greenway. Even after years of concerns being expressed on this issue, Boulder County did not invite any community participation prior to this vote. Not only do we have a serious public health issue regarding Rocky Flats in Boulder County, but we also have a serious issue regarding transparency in our County government.

We commend Commissioner Stolzmann for voting NO to participation in the Rocky Mountain Greenway.

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 the region:  On Monday 9/23/2024 Westminster City Council voted 4-3 to withdraw from the Rocky Mountain Greenway. We commend the leaders in Westminster for their courage and wisdom to make a stand on behalf of public health.

Another new development earlier this year: on January 30th 2024 Boulder County voted to officially adopt a position that opposes recreation at Rocky Flats! While we applaud the County for this vote, we also hold Boulder County accountable 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Due to public health concerns, the Town of Superior, Broomfield, and Westminster have all withdrawn from the project. Now we are asking Boulder County to do the same.

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.