Air Force recommends further investigation of past activities at Lowry

By Todd Hartman, Rocky Mountain News
September 27, 2004

A building once known as the "Black Hangar," where personnel worked with depleted uranium and other radioactive components, is one of seven sites at the former Lowry Air Force Base that the military has targeted for investigation.

Building 1499, which earned its nickname because of the secretive work that took place there in the 1950s and '60s, is now the Big Bear Ice Arena, a public skating and hockey rink.

In a recent environmental study of the former base, ordered last year by state health officials, the Air Force recommends further study of what went on in the Black Hangar and what became of the toxic materials used there.

The matter is one of several environmental questions raised by the $2 million study of the 1,866-acre site in east Denver and the western fringe of Aurora, which is being redeveloped into a model community.

In addition to the former Black Hangar, the Air Force has recommended further investigation of underground storage tanks, old dental buildings where mercury may have been released, and an area of soil disturbance that could have been a dump site, among other sites.

But Air Force and Lowry officials say there is no evidence that the sites pose any danger. Several soil and groundwater studies already have been done around the former Black Hangar and "nothing has been found," said Tom Markham, executive director of the Lowry Redevelopment Agency.

Officials with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment complimented the thoroughness of the Air Force report, but pointed out several of what they consider to be shortcomings:

• Conflicting information as to whether "dangerous chemical agents" were used in chemical warfare training at Lowry. At one point, the report says no such agents were used, but other documents suggest that some buildings were used for activities such as "napalm mixing" or "napalm gas storage."

• Incomplete information on several underground fuel storage tanks, including some as large as 50,000 gallons. State regulators complain that it isn't clear whether these tanks were ever removed and the area cleaned.

• Seventeen sites or facilities described as "unidentified and unevaluated." These include sites labeled "radioactive waste disposal areas." An Air Force official said the sites are mislabeled in the report and are, in fact, not "unevaluated."

Overall, state officials said, the Air Force too often concludes that no further investigation or cleanup of a questionable site is needed, even when it cites a lack of information about what may have occurred at a site or what might have become of hazardous wastes.

"I was disappointed that in many instances the lack of information was used as a reason for 'no further action' rather than a reason for 'further investigation,' " wrote Sheila Gaston, part of the health department's unit that is overseeing Lowry, in her initial response to the Air Force report.

Doug Karas, spokesman for the Air Force Real Property Agency, said that in most cases the Air Force has provided justification for taking no further action and that those reasons are spelled out deep within databases attached to the report.

"We're hoping that (the database) resolves those kind of things," Karas said. If not, he said, further discussions with state regulators would likely answer most questions, including those about the use of chemical weapons, the status of underground tanks and the disposal of most wastes.

In all, Karas noted, of 1,650 locations evaluated at Lowry, the Air Force found that 98 percent of them, or 1,616, required no further work. Eighteen others are on property still owned by the Air Force and work is ongoing at nine others. At the remaining seven, the Air Force recommends further study.

Officials at the LRA, the quasi-governmental entity organizing the redevelopment of the base, said they welcome the new Air Force report, but say little, if any, of the information is new and that past activities at the base already have been exhaustively reviewed.

"The state health department, the Air Force and the (Environmental Protection Agency) have been working on this site for 10 years, and the Air Force has spent $82 million to date on the sampling and cleanup," said Hilarie Portell, spokeswoman for the LRA. "We feel this site has been well-characterized."

But state regulators say that discoveries in recent years, such as asbestos-tainted soil, ordnance remains and leaking underground tanks holding hazardous waste, were unexpected. That's why they ordered a more in-depth study of the site.

Currently, the conversion of Lowry into a residential and business community is about 70 percent complete, with 3,000 homes and apartments built.

In its environmental report, which fills three CD-ROMs, the Air Force said it needs more information on the Black Hangar, where windows were once blacked out to prevent anyone from viewing activities inside. Those activities, the report said, included training personnel on how to work with nuclear weapons.

The report recommends more research "to obtain more specific information on the activities that occurred in (the building) and the potential disposal of solvents . . . in the vicinity of the building."

It also advises finding more former base personnel who can provide more detailed information on specific activities there.

State regulators say documents suggest that training capsules used in the building contained cobalt-60 and plutonium-239, both of which emit radiation. But it's the 445 pounds of uranium-238, also referred to as depleted uranium, that were apparently used in the building, then discarded, that remain of concern to state officials.

"The statement (in the Air Force report) that 'the disposition of these training aids has not been determined,' is a concern," Gaston wrote in the state health department's response to the military.

Air Force Real Property Agency spokesman Karas noted that a lack of information about how the material was disposed of doesn't mean it was disposed of improperly, but "we're trying to close the loop."

Howard Roitman, director of environmental programs at the state health department, called the Air Force report "a work in progress" and said the state wants to ensure that the Air Force produces a "complete and accurate a report."

The Air Force has pledged to continue studying environmental concerns at the former base and respond to questions raised by state health officials.

hartmant@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-892-5048