CCAT continues monitoring the Cotter/Lincoln Park Superfund Site

and current activities at the Cotter Uranium Mill

 

This website is maintained by CCAT volunteers as time permits

 

Cotter Uranium Mill to Reopen in 2014

 

On March 31, 2009, the Cotter Corporation, an affiliate of General Atomics, announced plans to refurbish, rebuild and open their uranium mill at the southern edge of Canon City, CO.  Click to read Cotter Reopening and Reaction news articles. The mill was built in 1958, with unlined mill tailings impoundments, resulting in extensive water and soil contamination.  The mill and the surrounding neighborhood of Lincoln Park was declared a Superfund Site in 1984, and it is still a Superfund Site.  The mill was dormant from 1985 until 1999, when reopened.  Due to poor conditions and management of the facility, from 2000 to 2006 over $59,000 was paid in fines, and 90 violations were cited for:

 

Spills, injuries from acids and inhaling radioactive materials, inadequate employee dose exposure calculations, failure to use baghouse filters, improper hazardous waste storage, failure to report hazardous spill, exceeding air opacity emissions, exceeding solvent usage and Volatile Organic Chemical emission limits, inoperable safety showers and eye wash stations, failure to maintain proper documentation, inaccurate log and inspection reports, failure to sample Yellowcake stack emissions, inadequate Emergency Response Exercise and documentation, failure to investigate Personal Radiation Monitors above action levels, groundwater contamination under the Shadow Hills Golf Course, Low pH - acidic conditions - in Primary Impoundment Pond which are damaging to the protective liner, and much more.

 

Over 40 geese and ducks were killed by a 4,500 gallon solvent spill in 2005, resulting in a 2008 maximum Federal fine and restitution of $30,000.  Click to read news article.  An ore truck traveling from Cotter uranium mines to the Mill wrecked along the Arkansas River on Hwy 50, and leakage of the tailings impoundment was found.

 

No wonder ……..

 

Cotter went on Stand Down in March 2006

 

In spite of dismal Yellowcake market prices, other U.S. uranium mill projects put on hold, the economy discouraging investments, and climate problems causing drought in the region (a new mill could use 1.3 million gallons of Canon City treated water per day), Cotter intends to hold this areas economic future hostage, while they shuffle paper back and forth with the Colorado Dept. of Public Health and Environment before they will or will not begin construction in 2014.  Who will invest in our community—who will retire in this ideal location—with the threat of 25-years of railroad cars bringing uranium ore past homes and businesses, and continued air, water and soil contamination looming over everyone’s heads?  Click to read Cotter’s Letter of Intent to CDPHE. 

COLORADO ADOPTS NEW GROUNDWATER STANDARDS In 2008, the State of Colorado created Groundwater standards for Uranium 30 ug/l and Molybdenum 35 ug/l. Both are new to Colorado regulations. Molybdenum is a significant contaminant in uranium mining and milling, as it is soluble and travels fast in groundwater.  It causes crippling Molybdenosis in ruminants, and raises uric acid levels in humans, damaging joints, and causing bony growths and Gout.  EPA's IRIS database listed Molybdenum as toxic in 1993, yet Colorado didn’t adopt a standard until now.  Uranium is a danger as both a carcinogen (cancer) and a non-carcinogen (kidney damage, diabetes, dna damage). Canada, Australia, and the States of California and Vermont have set a more protective standard for Uranium at 20 ug/l.  California EPA's goal for Uranium is .60 ug/l, and Canada recommends not drinking water with more than 10 ug/l of Uranium.  A 2003 University of New Mexico study, commissioned by the NM health department, on the effects of uranium in groundwater, recommended a Uranium standard in groundwater of 7 ug/l, due to kidney toxicity.  The World Health Organization's 2005 standard for Uranium is 15 ug/l.  All are well below the proposed Uranium standard at 30 ug/l. New standards will provide more protective clean up of contaminated sites in Colorado.  At the Cotter Uranium Mill/Lincoln Park Superfund Site, clean up level was set in 1988 at 100 ug/l for Moly and 35 ug/l for Uranium.  The new Molybdenum standard is two-thirds lower.  Some private wells near Cotter are above the proposed new Moly standard, and no institutional controls were ever put in place warning newcomers to avoid drinking well water.

Judge Upholds Ban on Maywood Waste—2007

Cotter Abandons Appeals—2008

 

Citizens in Fremont County continued a six-year battle to keep New Jersey’s Maywood Superfund waste from being dumped in their community.

 

Cotter Corporation filed a District Court case hoping to overturn the final 2007 decision that prohibits Maywood Chemical Works Superfund Site (New Jersey) waste acceptance and disposal into their impoundment. A District Court Hearing heard Cotter's Complaint on Friday, November 16, 2007, at 1:30pm, Courtroom 1, 1437 Bannock St., Denver, CO. On November 30th, District Court Judge Habas issued an Order upholding the health department's decision to deny direct disposal of radioactive waste at the Cotter Uranium Mill. Click to read article.

 

“Maywood  will continue to be a threat, until the Cotter Corporation has exhausted the legal recourses they want to pursue” said Jeri Fry, a CCAT founding Director. “Yes, I know most people don't know this and that by itself puts Fremont County back at risk. This has been a real David and Goliath battle. If the community looks away then the waste will come, and it will come from everywhere.”

 

In early 2008, Cotter announced abandoning the project

 

 

Click here to view documents and information: CDPHE Cotter Uranium Mill web site

 

Cotter Uranium Mill on Stand Down since Spring 2006

 

Operations will not resume until the mill has been

refurbished and passes a Readiness Review at CDPHE

 

CDPHE approved Cotter's License in early 2007

 

To view Cotter's latest license click here

 

Cotter requested an Adjudicatory Hearing on the license because they objected to some of the conditions and lack of approval to import waste for direct disposal.  The Hearing was held in September of 2005.  CCAT was a party requesting denial for both direct disposal of radioactive waste and processing of radioactive waste called "alternate feed."  The new license did not approve importation of radioactive waste for direct disposal due to concerns about the socioeconomic effect on our community, and due to a need to investigate whether there is leakage from the impoundment's liner.  Unfortunately, CDPHE did approve processing of alternate feed on a case-by-case basis.

Last Update:  September 2010

All proceeds from donations go to cover expenses for legal support, independent science consultants, educational

materials and programs for the public, this website, and for representing our community at Hearings

as done for the Maywood waste and Cotter's License.  CCAT Directors and volunteers are not paid.

Colorado Citizens Against ToxicWaste, Inc.
PO Box 964
Canon City, CO 81215-0964
(719) 275-3432 or (719) 275-7618

 

Read! April 29, 2004 Editorial by Eric Frankowski

 

 

Click to read

Patterson Press Release

Click to read

Makhijani Press Release

House Bill 10-1348 Passes

Uranium Processing Accountability Act

Signed by Governor Ritter June 8, 2010

 

Sponsors: Rep. Buffie McFadyen (D-Pueblo West), Sen. Ken Kester (R-Las Animas)
 and Sen. Bob Bacon (D-Fort Collins)

 

Why we needed the bill

Colorado cities and rural communities depend on clean air and water and economic opportunity to provide a strong quality of life. Unfortunately, uranium processing operations in Colorado alone have cost taxpayers $1 billion, weakened economic investment opportunities, polluted precious water resources, harmed the health of Coloradans, and killed wildlife. HB 1348 holds the uranium industry accountable for its mistakes and ensures that Colorado does not incentivize pollution by saying actions have no consequences.

 

About the Uranium Processing Accountability Act

 

·   Ensures that uranium operators take action and clean-up existing problems before they can apply to increase or       expand onsite activities.

·   Protects taxpayers by allowing local government, stakeholders, and the public to submit written comments as part of       CDPHE’s annual review of financial assurance for clean-up.

·   Protects Colorado homeowners by requiring uranium companies to notify residents with registered water wells in close       proximity to known groundwater contamination.

·   Helps prevent communities from becoming dumping grounds for out-of-state toxic waste under the guise of uranium       processing by requiring strict license provisions when seeking to accept “alternate feed,” toxic waste from   industry.

 

The one billion dollar taxpayer bailout

Clean-up of Colorado uranium mills has cost taxpayers more than $950 million dollars according to U.S. Department of Energy statistics. Spending for clean-up is ongoing, and the U.S. DOE will monitor and manage these legacy sites in perpetuity.

 

Cotter’s track record

·   The U.S. EPA has listed Cotter as a Superfund site for 25 years – the national priorities list of hazardous waste sites       targeted for clean-up. Cotter was cited for 99 violations in the last 10 years.

·   Cotter has polluted more than a billion gallons of scarce groundwater, enough to cover more than 4,000 football fields       with a foot of water or provide water to more than 8,000 households in one year.

·   Cotter proposed $23 million in clean-up and decommissioning bonds which could leave taxpayers on the hook given       that past clean-up costs in Colorado have ranged from $50 million to $500 million.

·   In 2008, Cotter pleaded guilty to a federal crime of killing 40 migratory birds from a single onsite spill and received a       fine and restitution totaling $30,000.

Citizens Group Files Complaint to Protect Taxpayers, Provide Public Participation,

and Ensure Adequate Cleanup Funds at Colorado Uranium Mill

 

On September 19, 2010, a Complaint was filed in District Court by CCAT against state radiation regulators which alleged their failure to follow legally-mandated procedures to set required financial assurances for cleanup at the Cotter Corporation, Cañon City, uranium mill.

 

Financial assurance instruments (or bonds) are necessary to ensure the State will have enough funds to decontaminate and dispose of radioactive materials in the event that the company is unable or unwilling to clean up millions of tons of waste and the pollution created by uranium milling.

Click to Read Complaint