[Military Environmental Forum] PFAS: Flowers grown on farm contaminated by Peterson Air Force Base, CO

[Lenny Siegel <Lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Forever chemicals almost tanked this farm


By Chelsea Casabona
Rocky Mountain PBS
July 14, 2026

FOUNTAIN, Colo. — On an early June morning, beating the heat, Nikki McComsey, co-owner of Gather Mountain Blooms, and her all-woman team of farmers are weeding and cleaning up two acres of flowers on the 15 acres of land they lease from Venetucci Farms.

The bright orange, red and pink hues of more than 20 varieties of flowers make it hard to tell this farming land was almost rendered unusable just a decade ago. 

...

When PPREF took over from the Venetuccis, who had no children to inherit the farm, the foundation continued the farm’s community traditions, like handing out free pumpkins to children in the fall. 

That was until the Peterson Air Force Base sent PPREF a letter in 2016 detailing business-altering news: PFAS — or “forever chemicals” — from the base's firefighting foam contaminated the land that Venetucci Farms sits on and much of the City of Fountain’s drinking water. 


For the entire story, see
https://www.rmpbs.org/news/science-environment/pfas-venetucci-farms-flowers


—

Lenny Siegel
Executive Director
Center for Public Environmental Oversight
A project of the Pacific Studies Center
LSiegel@cpeo.org
P.O. Box 998, Mountain View, CA 94042
Voice/Fax: 650-961-8918
http://www.cpeo.org
Author: DISTURBING THE WAR: The Inside Story of the Movement to Get Stanford University out of Southeast Asia - 1965–1975 (See http://a3mreunion.org)





-- 
Military-cpeo mailing list
Military-cpeo@lists.sonic.net
https://lists.sonic.net/mailman/listinfo/military-cpeo