More than 200 people attended a public hearing on the social and economic impacts the plan could have on the 15,000-resident town about an hour west of Colorado Springs.

"Read my lips," said Shirley Squier, a 21-year resident, her voice booming as she addressed Cotter officials in the audience. "We do not want our community turned into a toxic radioactive waste dump ... not now, not ever."

Ultimately, the state health department will decide if the Cotter Uranium Mill can accept the dirt from the site in Maywood, N.J., that once built burners for lanterns.

The public comment period on the proposal extends through the rest of the month.

Cotter wants to use the dirt to cover two reservoir-sized holding ponds where the mill dumped radioactive waste for 30 years. The mill removed uranium from ore and processed it into fuel for nuclear power plants until the market for the product dried up.

The New Jersey dirt is less than one-tenth as radioactive as the material it would cover, according to the company. And the millions of dollars Cotter could earn from accepting the contaminated dirt would allow it to convert the mill to process zirconium, a relatively benign product used in electronics and precision cutting equipment.

Cotter opponents claim the shipments from New Jersey show the company's real business plan for the mill: a dumping ground for hazardous waste from other states and countries.

That would have a dire economic and social impact on the community, opponents said.

"We do not believe people will want to move here or tourists will want to come here if we are designated a national and international radioactive waste disposal site," said Emily Tracy, a former Canon City councilwoman.

Cotter expects to receive more than 9,700 rail cars, six to 10 a day, with more than 100 tons of dirt each over a seven-year period.

During that time, the company would pay $22.3 million in payroll, $17.5 million for local utilities, $8.6 million in purchases to vendors and $2.3 million in property taxes, according to Cotter's economic assessment.

Several speakers Monday night scoffed at the promised economic gains from the dirt.

"Money doesn't buy life," said Craig Miller, who moved to Fremont County last year.

The fight over the dirt renewed a decades-long battle between Cotter and some residents in the community.

Neighboring Lincoln Park was declared a federal Superfund cleanup site in 1984 because the mill's holding pond had contaminated wells and other water outside the mill's borders.

Cotter also has been sued repeatedly by former workers and nearby residents, with the mill losing some multi-million dollar suits and settling others out of court.

Dan Slater, a Canon City lawyer who lives in Lincoln Park, compared the community to a battered spouse listening to Cotter's repeated promises to do better.

"Once again Cotter sidles up to our community and in a low, cool voice says, 'I'm sorry, baby, I won't hurt you again."'