The property now known as Lowry Range has a deep history. Formerly the Lowry Bombing and Gunnery Range, this 100-square-mile piece of public land was used for training exercises, including live munitions training, by United States Armed Forces from 1938 through 1963. Per the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, “the area contains four former Titan I missile complexes.” While the Titan missiles have all been decommissioned and removed, the land has long been under the stewardship of the state to mitigate the risk of continued potential health and safety hazards.
One specific area of Lowry Range, the Lowry Superfund site, is a federally recognized hazardous waste site. It is considered under long-term remediation by the U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). In a public letter submitted by the EPA to Civitas in May 2023, the agency stated that they were “concerned that hydraulic fracturing surrounding and underneath the site could lead to a significant unintended release of hazardous substances.”
