Last June, the Environmental Protection Agency announced that it had certified the clean-up of the former Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant in Colorado. This was a major step forward in converting a significant part of the previously contaminated nuclear bomb production facility to a wildlife refuge. The conversion had been authorized by Congress in 2001 as part of the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Act. The clean up was completed nearly decades ahead of schedule with a cost avoidance of billions of dollars.
The massive clean-up and restoration work, which included removal of buildings, removal of contaminated soil, transfer of plutonium to other facilities was managed by the U.S. Department of Energy; the project was carried out by a team led by contractor, CH2M Hill. In announcing the clean-up in 2006 the Department of Energy (DOE) said that they and CH2M Hill, "successfully partnered in a 10-year effort to complete the largest, most complex environmental cleanup project in United States history and converted an environmental liability into a community asset, completing the project nearly fifty years and $30 billion below initial estimates." As DOE's Rocky Flats Project Manager, Frazer Lockhart, put it, "this is what happens when you get the best of government working with the best of industry."
In recognizing the successful clean-up, the Project Management Institute (PMI), the world's leading not-for-profit association for the project management profession, awarded its 2006 Project of the Year to DOE's Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site. In commenting on the award, Lockhart said that "Kaiser-Hill (now CH2M Hill) performed a first-class job for the government, and the public-private partnership between DOE and Kaiser-Hill paved the way for our success...We faced countless challenges on this first-of-its-kind project and this award is a tribute our joint efforts." Lockhart and his team also received a Service to America Medal from the Partnership for Public Service in recognition of their great success.
Finally, as Assistant Energy Secretary James Rispoli commented at a Senate hearing on the clean-up, "This contract (which included financial incentives for speed and performance) was clearly the flagship in being innovative in this approach." Thus, the combination of innovation, hard-work, collaboration and efficiency succeeded in getting an extraordinarily challenging job done.
The massive clean-up and restoration work, which included removal of buildings, removal of contaminated soil, transfer of plutonium to other facilities was managed by the U.S. Department of Energy; the project was carried out by a team led by contractor, CH2M Hill. In announcing the clean-up in 2006 the Department of Energy (DOE) said that they and CH2M Hill, "successfully partnered in a 10-year effort to complete the largest, most complex environmental cleanup project in United States history and converted an environmental liability into a community asset, completing the project nearly fifty years and $30 billion below initial estimates." As DOE's Rocky Flats Project Manager, Frazer Lockhart, put it, "this is what happens when you get the best of government working with the best of industry."
In recognizing the successful clean-up, the Project Management Institute (PMI), the world's leading not-for-profit association for the project management profession, awarded its 2006 Project of the Year to DOE's Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site. In commenting on the award, Lockhart said that "Kaiser-Hill (now CH2M Hill) performed a first-class job for the government, and the public-private partnership between DOE and Kaiser-Hill paved the way for our success...We faced countless challenges on this first-of-its-kind project and this award is a tribute our joint efforts." Lockhart and his team also received a Service to America Medal from the Partnership for Public Service in recognition of their great success.
Finally, as Assistant Energy Secretary James Rispoli commented at a Senate hearing on the clean-up, "This contract (which included financial incentives for speed and performance) was clearly the flagship in being innovative in this approach." Thus, the combination of innovation, hard-work, collaboration and efficiency succeeded in getting an extraordinarily challenging job done.
