Time bomb: Development explodes near sites where munitions didn't

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Colorado
ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS
Time bomb: Development explodes near sites where munitions didn't
State worried about safety, cost to defuse old weapons ranges
By Todd Hartman
March 6, 2004

Untold thousands of aging, unexploded bombs are scattered across
Colorado, hidden military leftovers that health experts call a growing
hazard and a mess that will cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of
dollars to clean up.

State regulators have identified at least two dozen sites where old
ordnance has been found. The one causing the greatest alarm: the former
Lowry Bombing and Gunnery Range southeast of Denver, where workers have
discovered more than 3,000 live munitions - with 75 percent of the
search-and-destroy work still to come.

Meanwhile, homes, schools and businesses are sprouting up in and around
the range's western fringe, with back yards and athletic fields looking
out on lands dotted for miles with millions of pieces of what's known in
the business as unexploded ordnance, or UXO.

But cleanup work is expected to take another 10 years and nervous
regulators want the Army to move faster at Lowry. They're worried about
the rising odds that a wandering resident will have a close encounter of
the wrong kind.

"According to the Department of Defense, the Lowry Range has the highest
explosive hazard element rating possible, with a score of 98 of 100,"
Doug Benevento, director of the Colorado Department of Public Health and
Environment, wrote in a letter last October to Rep. Bob Beauprez,
R-Colo., to coax more cleanup funds from the Army.

"Over 8,000 new homes will be built on and adjacent to the Lowry range
in the next few years. All of these areas are within easy walking
distance of historical military training sites where both chemical and
conventional UXO may remain on the surface," the letter said. "With
largely uncontrolled site access, it is difficult to ensure that the
public is protected."

This article can be viewed at:
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/state/article/0,1299,DRMN_21_2708545,00.html

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