Originally posted Jan 31, 2015 / Website: https://www.twincities.com/2015/01/31/goats-offered-as-alternative-for-clearing-plutonium/
BOULDER, Colo. — A goat herder who has a college degree in weed sciences told federal wildlife officials that she could eliminate the need for a possible 700-acre controlled burn at the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge by turning her goats loose there and eliminate concerns over spreading radioactive plutonium.
Lani Malmberg said it’s unwise to burn land that has been exposed to the toxic metal. She said her goats won’t suffer ill consequences.
The refuge was created in 2006 in the wake of the nuclear weapons site’s closure, and a $7 billion cleanup was finished in 2005. Concerns that a controlled burn there could put plutonium into the air prompted Boulder’s Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center and surrounding communities to take a stance against that happening.
A spokesman for the Fish and Wildlife Service’s regional office in Denver said it’s the agency’s current position that grazing is not an option.
