Report Details Environmental Damage at Rocky Mountain Arsenal: Colorado Attorney General seeking compensation from Shell, U.S. Army
October 29, 2007—Denver—Colorado Attorney General
John W. Suthers today released a Natural Resource Damage
Assessment Plan (NRDA) detailing past and ongoing
environmental damages caused by chemical production at the
Rocky Mountain Arsenal. The NRDA found significant harms to
environmental resources on and off the Arsenal site, most
notably contaminated groundwater and injured wildlife. The
document can be downloaded at
http://www.cdphe.state.co.us/hm/rmaplan.htm. The
assessment provides the basis of a legal claim to recover
damages
for environmental harms should the parties be unable to
settle the
claim. Although cleanup actions at the Arsenal are scheduled
to be
completed in 2010, the report notes contamination will
remain on the
site and in the surrounding areas for decades, at least. The
NRDA was
prepared on behalf of the three State natural resource
trustees, the
Attorney General, and designated representatives from the
Colorado
Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) and the
Department
of Natural Resources (DNR). “Over the last quarter
century, we have worked with Shell and the
Army to cleanup the Arsenal and make it a wildlife refuge
for the
benefit of Coloradans,” said Attorney General Suthers.
“However, the
law entitles the citizens of this state to fair compensation
for past
and ongoing harm to our environment. It is our job to ensure
Coloradans
are reimbursed for the natural resource damages caused by
Shell Oil and
the federal government.” CDPHE executive director Jim
Martin, one of Colorado’s three
natural-resource damages trustees, concurred: “Although we
applaud the
clean-up work that Shell and the Army have completed on
Arsenal so far,
that effort merely reduces additional harm to our
environment, however,
harm remains. Plus, our citizens are entitled to fair
compensation for
wildlife deaths and other losses over the years. Wildlife,
habitat and
groundwater are among the injured resources for which
Coloradans are
owed fair compensation.” “While the site has been
designated a wildlife refuge, the historic
use of the land for chemical manufacturing has resulted in
significant
impacts on wildlife and habitat,” commented Ron Cattany, the
Department of Natural Resources' Trustee. “Coupled with the
contamination of scarce water resources on the arid plains,
adequate
compensation to the citizens of the state is an imperative,
not an
option.” The NRDA concludes that Shell Oil released an
estimated 150,112 tons of
contaminants into Colorado’s environment. The Army is
alleged to be
responsible for another 26,405 tons. From 1942 through the
1970s, the
federal government used the Arsenal to produce, and later
demilitarize,
chemical weapons such as mustard agent and nerve gas. Shell
Oil Company
used the property from 1952 to 1982 to produce a variety of
pesticides,
including the carcinogenic neurotoxins aldrin and dieldrin.
Superfund, the same federal law that required Shell Oil and
the Army to
cleanup the contamination, also requires them to pay for
natural
resource damages. Superfund’s cleanup provisions aim to
protect public
health and the environment from future harm, while the
natural resource
damage provisions address the fact that once a resource has
been
contaminated, the loss to the public continues until and
unless the
resource is completely restored. Officials from the
Colorado Attorney General’s Office, CDPHE, and DNR
have been working for several months with representatives
from Shell Oil
and the federal government to resolve the case. If
settlement
negotiations are unsuccessful, the State is prepared to
pursue legal
action to recover natural resource damages based on the NRDA.
Any
recoveries gained through litigation or settlement will be
used to
replace, restore or acquire similar natural resources,
through projects
such as parts of the Northeast Greenway Corridor initiative.
The assessment plan will be available for review and comment
by the
public during the next 30 days, and the State will seek
public input
throughout the assessment process. “Perhaps more than any
other asset, the State of Colorado is known
for its breathtaking natural beauty and environment,”
concluded
Attorney General Suthers. “This study is an important step
in
returning Colorado’s great outdoors to Coloradans. I am
hopeful that
the state’s claim can be resolved in the near future.”
Groundwater injury
Although groundwater contamination has been reduced
through treatment
efforts, the NRDA estimates that water in and around the
Arsenal may
never be fully clean. Approximately 52,500 acre-feet of
alluvial
groundwater - water found near the soil surface - is
unusable for human
consumption. If not unavailable, that quantity would
otherwise be large
enough to provide water for every household in Commerce City
for more
than seven years. The NRDA estimates that 1.89 million
acre-feet of deep
groundwater are undrinkable, due to restrictions imposed as
part of the
Superfund cleanup. That amount of water would be sufficient
to meet the
needs of every household in the Centennial State for one
year. The primary causes of groundwater contamination
include seepage from
several evaporative waste basins, leaky tanks and pipes, and
numerous
chemical spills. Arsenal basins A, B, C, D, and E, which
collectively
covered 243 acres, were not lined and allowed waste to
percolate
directly into the water table. Basin F, which was covered
with a porous,
3/8-inch asphalt lining, covered 93 acres and held as much
as
240-million gallons of contaminated liquid. Several
chemical spills and tank leakages were recorded on the
Arsenal
site, including:
- 100,000 gallons of benzene in 1947
- 17,000 gallons of Dicyclopentadiene (DCPD) in 1963
- 1,548 gallons of DCPD and oil in 1976
- 58,864 gallons of DCPD in 1978
- More than 87,000 gallons of other solvents, pesticides,
and
metals.
Drinking liquid containing high levels of benzene can
cause vomiting,
dizziness, convulsions, rapid heart rate, and death.
Prolonged exposure
can damage bone marrow, decrease red blood cells, and injure
the immune
system. Exposure to DCPD can adversely affect the human
nervous system
and liver. The primary contaminant at the Arsenal,
however, is dieldrin, which was
found to be widespread in soils, groundwater, and wildlife
tissue.
Dieldrin was one of many pesticides manufactured by Shell
Oil at the
Arsenal. The pesticide was banned by the EPA in 1987, and
exposure has
been linked to cancer and found to accelerate Parkinson’s
disease.
Wildlife injuries
The NRDA found severe injuries to area wildlife, for
which Coloradans
also are entitled to compensation. The U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service
estimates at least 20,000 ducks died in a 10-year span at
the Arsenal,
and during the 1970s, hundreds of dead waterfowl were found
each day
around the Arsenal’s four lakes. Mallard carcasses found
onsite
contained up to 15 times the acceptable level of dieldrin.
In addition to tens-of-thousands of birds, many mammals -
such as
prairie dogs and badgers - also fell victim to the deadly
chemicals
manufactured onsite. Still other species may have suffered
reduced
reproduction rates or chemically induced paralysis and birth
defects. ### Additional media resources:
Map of
estimated extent of a combined contaminant plume
(trichloroethylene, benzene, chloroform,
dibromochloropropane, and
dieldrin) in the shallow alluvial aquifer
http://www.ago.state.co.us/PR/Comm/1.jpg
Map of extent of detectable di
isopropyl methylphosphonate (DIMP) in
shallow groundwater in 1994, according to USGS
http://www.ago.state.co.us/PR/Comm/2.jpg
Map of estimated extent of the combined contaminant plume
(Figure 5.10)
and a combined DIMP and chloride plume
http://www.ago.state.co.us/PR/Comm/3.jpg
Examples of the distance that communities near the
Arsenal have gone to obtain reliable water supplies
http://www.ago.state.co.us/PR/Comm/4.jpg
Map of wells near the Arsenal owned by municipal water
suppliers
http://www.ago.state.co.us/PR/Comm/5.jpg
Map of complainants noting persistent noxious odors
during the Basin F interim response action
http://www.ago.state.co.us/PR/Comm/6.jpg
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