[CPEO-MEF] RADIATION, ENCROACHMENT: Uranium at Pinon Canyon (CO)

[Lenny Siegel <lennysiegel@gmail.com>]

Piñon soil sparks debate
Rep. McKinley demands an investigation into the Army site and its levels 
of uranium. Some say it could be natural.

By John Ingold
The Denver Post (CO)
June 18, 2008

A state representative said Wednesday that the soil on the U.S. Army's 
Piñon Canyon Maneuver Site in southeastern Colorado is filthy with high 
levels of uranium and suggested the Army is to blame.

Rep. Wes McKinley, a Democrat from Walsh whose district encompasses the 
massive training site south of La Junta, said soil samples from the site 
show levels substantially above statewide averages, making it almost 
certain that the levels are the result of human pollution. He demanded 
the federal government and the Colorado Department of Public Health and 
Environment investigate.

"I want to know what it is," he said. "I'd like to know what's causing 
that."

Mark Salley, a spokesman for the state health department, said the 
training site is on federal land, meaning the department has no 
authority to regulate radioactive materials there. Uranium also occurs 
naturally in varying levels around Colorado, and Salley said the 
department does not think there is a public health concern from whatever 
uranium exists on the site, in part because the site is so large and 
remote.

...

For the entire article, see
http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_9628654

--


Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org



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