U.S. Senator Ken Salazar

Member of the Agriculture, Energy and Veterans Affairs Committees

 

2300 15th Street, Suite 450 Denver, CO 80202 | 702 Hart Senate Building, Washington, D.C. 20510

 

 

For Immediate Release

November 15, 2005

CONTACT:    Cody Wertz – Press Secretary

                        202-228-3630

Jen Clanahan – Deputy Press Secretary

                        303-455-7600

 

Salazar/Allard Secure $10M to Complete Rocky Flats Transition Into National Wildlife Refuge

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The former Rocky Flats nuclear weapons site’s transition to a National Wildlife Refuge is nearly complete after the Senate today passed the FY06 Defense Authorization Bill (S. 1042) by an overwhelming bipartisan margin of 98 to 0 this afternoon.

Contained within the bill was an amendment cosponsored by United States Senator Ken Salazar to authorize the purchase of the mineral rights at the Rocky Flats site to complete this transition. Senator Salazar’s amendment to the Defense Authorization Bill, jointly offered by him and Sen. Allard, will allow the DOD to spend $10 million to purchase the mineral rights associated with Rocky Flats, which will ensure that the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge will continue to be a natural sanctuary for wildlife.

“Securing the private mineral rights at Rocky Flats is an important step for the people of Colorado. We will forever protect the tall grass prairie at Rocky Flats from destruction by future mining operations, and we will preserve this precious habitat as a home for the wildlife of our State. And we will do this the right way, by making sure that mineral rights owners are compensated fairly and voluntarily,” Senator Salazar said.

Senator Salazar has worked for many years to clean the pollution at Rocky Flats and to bring to reality a wildlife refuge that will serve the people and the natural wildlife of Colorado forever. Senator Salazar served as a trustee of Colorado’s natural resources when he was Colorado’s Attorney General and when he was the Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources. He has worked very hard to combine the cleaned open space at Rocky Flats — the wildlife refuge — with the open space of the communities that surround it. This entire area will truly become one of Colorado’s crown jewels — right in the midst of the heavily populated Front Range.

Having been approved today by the Senate, the FY06 Defense Authorization bill will proceed to conference committee to iron out differences between House and Senate versions before being voted upon a second time by both the House and Senate. If the House and Senate both approve the conference report, it will go on to the President’s desk for signature or veto.

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