Socioeconomic impact of waste-soil contract detailed

By TRACY HARMON
The Pueblo Chieftain

CANON CITY - Findings relating to socioeconomic and transportation impacts in connection with the disposal of Maywood, N.J., Superfund site waste soils at the Cotter Corp. mill here were detailed during a public meeting Friday.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is overseeing the cleanup of about 470,000 tons of the radioactive soil, which Cotter proposes to dispose of at its mill site in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Canon City. The waste was left by Maywood Chemical Co., which extracted thorium to make lantern mantles from 1916 to 1959.

About 200 people attended the first public meeting, which is one of two such meetings dedicated strictly to an environmental assessment's second look at the socioeconomic and transportation issues requested by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

State officials are charged with making a final decision as to whether Cotter Corp. will be allowed to accept the waste soils.

Lucy Bambry of the Greystone Environmental Consultant firm detailed findings of the socioeconomic impact portion of the environmental assessment. She said sales tax figures from 1985 to 2000 generally show that Fremont County has a healthy economy.

Bambry pointed out that the Maywood project would have an anticipated impact of an increase in $300,000 per year in revenue to the local economy with a total $22 million impact.

In terms of public perception, Bambry said there really are no reliable methods that can be used to gauge impact of the project.

"Adverse impacts would be unlikely and relatively small," Bambry said.

A look at tourism and recreation trends showed that a 2001 statewide decline of 20-30 percent in tourism economy was attributed to drought, wildfires and consumer concerns about the economy.

Bambry said in terms of real estate activity there have been no price decreases in the Lincoln Park neighborhood and no decline in sales in the Dawson Ranch subdivision, which is the closest housing development to the Cotter mill.

Two Canon City residents, Darwin Dalzell and Joe Miller, both said they would not have moved to Canon City if they had known about the Cotter Mill prior to the move.

Larry Labuda, a resident of Dawson Ranch, said he has seen instances of sales lost because of what is happening at Cotter.

Mike Stiehl of Canon City addressed the reference to a Yucca Flat study pertained to property values in Las Vegas, which is located 112 miles away from that waste disposal site.

"That is not a very direct relationship to Canon City where homes are less than a mile away from the Cotter Mill," Stiehl said.

Kevin Franklin of Franklin Environmental Services addressed transportation issues, pointing out that the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad will carry the waste soil on its tracks from Chicago to Pueblo and then on to Canon City. He said the railroad is one of the safest in the nation as it has had just 119 incidents reported in the past seven years, no rail crossing incidents have been reported in Fremont County and there have been no radioactive releases by the railroad.

Canon City and Royal Gorge Railroad co-owner and Manager Mark Greksa detailed his objections to rail cars carrying radioactive soil being switched to a siding right in front of the tourism railroad depot.

"What would you do if you are waiting to board our train and you see rail cars with toxic waste placards on them?" Greksa asked.

"Our goal is to become the premiere scenic railroad in the country and we are on track for that by bringing in about 250,000 people to the community every year. Our dreams and goals are threatened by this proposal," Greksa said.

Greksa also questioned the safety record of Rock and Rail Railroad, which will transport the rail cars locally to the Cotter Mill site.

"They (Rock and Rail) have numerous railroad federal safety violations. Last November, a runaway flat car went through the Royal Gorge and Canon City at 45 miles per hour and many people reported seeing the (safety) gates at crossings coming down after the car was already through the intersection," Greksa explained.

Florence Mayor Pete Gamache said the same runaway car came through Florence. He questioned the absence of gauging the proposal's impact on Florence, which is downwind and downstream on the Arkansas River from the mill.

Sharyn Cunningham of Canon City, co-chair of the Colorado Citizens Against Toxic Waste, said the revised documents are an insult to her intelligence.

"There are no surveys, they are not questioning the community and they say there are no reliable tools to study the social impacts. There are hundreds of studies, I will submit examples of 26 that I found," Cunningham said.

Two residents, George Dupire and Mulla Price, spoke in favor of Cotter's operation, which would bring needed jobs to the community.

A second public hearing is scheduled at 6 p.m. on March 10 at the VFW Royal Gorge Centre, Ninth and Sell. People may review the environmental assessment supplements at the Canon City Public Library.