[CPEO-BIF] Visit to Gates Rubber site, Denver, Colorado

[Lenny Siegel]

[For a formatted version of this report, with photos, download the 408KB 
Word file from http:www.cpeo.org/pubs/GatesCPEO.doc.]

Gates Rubber Site - Denver, Colorado
Lenny Siegel
September, 2006

On September 7, 2006, I visited the Gates Rubber redevelopment site just 
south of downtown Denver. The 80-acre site, which straddles Broadway, 
produced belts, hoses, and even tires for the automobile industry. 
Established in 1911, in its heyday it provided over 6,000 workers a 
living wage and strong benefits. Once the nation's sixth largest rubber 
company, Gates began downsizing in the 1980s, as it moved operations 
overseas. It closed permanently in 1995.

The 30-acre parcel east of Broadway, formerly operated by Samsonite, is 
being developed by Lionstone Redevelopment. The 50 acres on the west 
side are being developed initially by Cherokee Denver LLC, which plan to 
conduct environmental cleanup and install infrastructure before selling 
sections to other builders.

When, Cherokee bought its property in 2001, the Denver Labor 
Federation-affiliated Front Range Economic Strategy Center formed the 
Campaign for Responsible Development, a broad coalition of neighborhood, 
labor, disabled, and environmental groups to influence its plans. With 
financial support from Making Connections Denver, the Campaign now 
brings together 55 diverse organizations.

In 2003 the coalition contacted Cherokee. Over a three-year period it 
extracted a series of promises, embodied in a series of complementary, 
enforceable Community Benefits Agreements. In turn it backed Cherokee's 
zoning proposal as well as subsidies, from the City and County of 
Denver, which should total $126 million.

Cherokee plans an eight-million-square-foot mixed-used residential, 
office,  and commercial complex, fronting an already operating 
light-rail station connecting directly to downtown Denver. It has 
pledged local hiring, prevailing wages for construction workers, no 
big-box stores, parks and open space, and wheelchair friendly 
facilities. Plans call for 200 affordable rental housing units and 150 
affordable ownership residences.

Not surprisingly, the Gates site is contaminated. Among its problems are 
three TCE plumes, though the company reportedly blames Samsonite, which 
leased the eastern parcel. TCE was originally discovered by workers 
drilling for the light rail construction project. One plume has migrated 
under Interstate 25 into the West Washington Park neighborhood, along 
South Lincoln Street. At the insistence of community activists, 
officials and the responsible parties have installed monitoring wells 
and sampled air - indoors, subslab, and outdoors - in the residential 
area. Groundwater concentrations of TCE on Lincoln Street exceed the MCL 
(maximum contaminant level) of 5 parts per billion, but in most cases 
they aren't much higher than that level. Furthermore, groundwater at the 
site does not serve as a source of drinking water."

U.S. EPA and Envirogroup, on behalf of Gates and Cherokee, have sampled 
indoor air and soil gas at 53 homes. The Colorado Department of Public 
Health and the Environment (CDPHE) concluded that indoor air levels of 
TCE "are safe and do not pose a health risk to residents." At least one 
home registered indoor air readings above the .8 micrograms per cubic 
meter Colorado screening level, requiring further investigation. 
However, Colorado's current action level - that is, for requiring 
mitigation such as subslab ventilation - is 1.6 micrograms per cubic 
meter. Before activists met with the CDPHE, the trigger level was even 
higher.

Personally, I don't believe the 1.6 micrograms per cubic meter action 
level is stringent enough. In fact, I believe that the Denver-area 
residential indoor air background level of .46 micrograms per cubic 
meter poses an unacceptable risk to the entire population. Nevertheless, 
Cherokee and Gates, under CDPHE supervision, are aggressively treating 
the source areas with in situ technologies. According to CDPHE, TCE 
concentrations in those areas "have decreased up to 99%." So, even 
though I question the finding that residents are safe, the response of 
groundwater cleanup makes better sense than installing mitigation 
systems (such as subslab depressurization) in neighboring homes.

Since 2005, a number of members of the Campaign have been meeting as the 
Voluntary Cleanup Advisory Board (VCAB). Cherokee is enrolled in 
Colorado's Voluntary Clean-Up Program (VCUP), which has not required 
public participation or even notice. The VCAB has negotiated with CDPHE 
and Cherokee to receive notice of each cleanup plan that Cherokee 
submits for the Gates site, as well as the creation of a document 
depository in a local library. Now the VCAB is working with state 
legislators to propose that the state incorporate public involvement 
into the VCUP statute or regulations.

Demolition has begun on parts of the Gates complex, but it will take two 
or three years to properly remove and dispose of asbestos-containing 
materials. The Campaign and the VCAB intend to monitor and ensure 
Cherokee's compliance with its agreements, but meanwhile, satisfied with 
the relationship it created based upon hard work and broad-based 
organizing, it is supporting Cherokee projects elsewhere in the Denver area.

For a more detailed description of the Campaign for Responsible 
Development's achievements at Gates, as well as lessons learned, see 
"The Gates Cherokee Redevelopment Project: 'A Huge Step Forward for the 
Low-Income People of Denver,'" by Tory Read, (Making Connections, 
August, 2006), a 1.6 MB PDF file, at 
http://www.cpeo.org/pubs/GatesMakingConnections.pdf.