Proxies for Pollution

Between 1989 and 2017, the Rocky Flats nuclear production complex underwent a profound transformation—from munitions plant to wildlife refuge. Publicized discourses about contamination and containment were integral to this metamorphosis. Despite their often-critical tone, journalists disseminated messages that served special-interest agendas. Key among these narratives was the notion that the plant’s contamination was embodied by its industrial features and could therefore be excised with them. By vilifying buildings, journalists deflected public attention from the fact of human negligence and the reality that radioactive effluent had long since permeated the surrounding area. Thus, with less-than-intentional assistance from media personnel, government authorities and private-sector contractors rhetorically made legible and then erased those imperceptible contaminants that they would not—perhaps could not—actually contain.