EPA Chief Visits Superfund Site at Old Arsenal

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Christie Whitman stood on the decontaminated Rattlesnake Hill and squinted as she looked across the prairie to a refuge for deer, prairie dogs and bald eagles.

Part toxic wasteland, part refuge, the Rocky Mountain Arsenal is challenging but also proof that Superfund sites can be cleaned up, Whitman said.

“There is no place that is too polluted,” she said. “There are some places that provide bigger challenges, but there is nothing that can’t be reclaimed.”

Whitman, who earlier addressed a meeting of the Western Governors Assn., spent part of the afternoon at the 27-acre arsenal near Denver, which once was used for sarin nerve gas production and then for pesticide manufacturing. It is one of the most toxic sites in the West.

A $2.2-billion cleanup project is expected to be completed by 2011. One small area has been turned into the wildlife refuge, home to about 300 species.

After the cleanup, some sections will remain under Army guard, off limits to visitors because they won’t be deemed safe.

Whitman also examined a model of grapefruit-sized sarin bomblets, produced at the plant from 1953 to 1957. Since January, the Army has detonated six bomblets containing the deadly gas that were found last fall as part of the cleanup. Nature tours were suspended in October after the first bomblet was found.

“This is an area that has contributed to our nation throughout its history. When you consider how it became contaminated, it was part of a war effort,” she said. “This wasn’t something that was done haphazardly . . . it was because people were focused to committing themselves to something larger.”