COLORADO SPRINGS

NORAD plans airborne terrorism exercise

About 1,500 representatives of government agencies in two countries will participate in a terrorism exercise today that will stretch from Colorado Springs to Canada.

Sponsored by the North American Aerospace Command, the exercise will test and improve coordination and operational procedures among the agencies, Maj. Doug Martin said.

It was planned before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Martin said. There will be no public access.

The exercise will involve two airborne terrorism scenarios.

In one, a Delta Air Lines 757 will travel from Salt Lake City to Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage, Alaska. The other will involve a Navy C-9 airlifter, which will travel from Whidbey Island Naval Air Station at Oak Harbor, Wash., to Vancouver International Airport.

Among the agencies that will be involved are the FBI, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Transportation Security Administration, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Delta, the Federal Aviation Administration and the Vancouver Airport Authority.

BRECKENRIDGE

EPA releases plan to clean up mine complex

The Environmental Protection Agency is taking public comments on a plan to clean up a mine complex east of this resort town that has contaminated a creek.

The Wellington-Oro mine, a massive network of shafts and tunnels shut down in the 1970s, has leaked heavy metals into French Creek, leaving its banks an orange color and threatening the health of fish downstream.

Rather than declare it a Superfund site, the EPA drafted a cleanup plan with a group of "stakeholders" including state and local officials and Breckenridge residents.

The agency's preferred option involves treating the creek water and pumping it into ponds where the solids would settle. The sludge would then be pumped into the Oro mine shaft or be disposed of at a local landfill.

EPA officials said the method would reduce cadmium levels by 95 percent and zinc levels by 99.9 percent. It would cost up to $6.8 million.

BOULDER COUNTY

Government cuts flower order by 85 percent

Boulder County's Facilities Management Division has cut its usual order for annual flowers by 85 percent this year and will only be planting annuals in one bed per site because of the current drought.

Those plantings will be around the fountain in the Boulder County Courthouse lawn on Pearl Street, around the sign at the Boulder County Justice Center at 6th Avenue and Canyon Boulevard, in front of the Health and Social Services building on north Broadway, in front of the old county hospital on north Broadway and at the main entrance of the Simpson building in Lafayette.

The county's other water-saving measures include the installation of rain sensors on all irrigation systems; maintaining all irrigation systems at the highest efficiency possible to ensure against the loss of water due to leakage; aerating and fertilizing grass to promote healthy root growth to be better able to withstand drought conditions; adjusting mowing height up to 3 inches to help grass better withstand a lack of water; and planting more drought-resistant trees, shrubs and flowers in anticipation of future dry seasons.

Camera staff and wire services

June 4, 2002

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