C.C.A.T.

Regarding state involvement in potential clean up of the plant site, Owens said, "Good question. I don’t know what our legal liability is, but I certainly would expect that we would try to be as helpful as we could. Typically, these sites are more federally designated. You don’t typically have state clean up. You have the state helping the federal government. It’s hard to speculate what might happen. I think that’s probably getting way ahead of things."

The health department did not take issue with the safety of handling the Maywood soil at the Cotter facility.

Health department spokeswoman Cindy Parmenter said the decision ends the department’s consideration of the Maywood soil issue, but said Cotter can file a new application in the future if it so desires.

Cotter officials indicated they would reapply with additional information to satisfy the health department’s concerns.

"We are disappointed in the state’s rejection but find that it is positive in what they wrote to us," Rich Ziegler, Cotter’s executive vice president and general manager, said today.

Ziegler said the department found the Maywood soil to be acceptable and that Cotter’s health and safety procedures are also acceptable. He said Cotter will redo the environmental assessment and reapply.

"The environmental assessment submitted to the department’s Laboratory and Radiation Services program did not fully address key issues related to the transport of the material," said Doug Benevento, the acting executive director of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

Benevento also said Cotter’s environmental assessment provided insufficient information on the socio-economic impacts of the shipment on the Cañon City community.

Jody Enderle, the secretary of the Cañon City-based Colorado Citizens Against ToxicWaste group, said the organization was "elated" by the news.

"I think this is a very wise decision for our community," she said. "We will continue to educate and watch to make sure that things are done within the law."

Cotter earlier this year announced plans to bring 40,000 tons of what health officials called "mildly contaminated waste" to the Cañon City mill from the Maywood Chemical Co. Superfund site in New Jersey as part of the eventual shipment of 470,000 tons of the material.

The shipments were put on hold, however, when the Colorado Legislature — reacting to community opposition to the shipments — passed House Bill 1408, which requires a public comment period and an environmental impact study before radioactive waste can be brought to the state.

In a letter sent to Cotter on Monday, CDPHE radiation and laboratory director David Butcher said, "The environmental assessment done pursuant to House Bill 1408 is not adequate."

Butcher’s letter said Cotter’s environmental assessment "fails to mention previously identified potential accident types, consequences and safety requirements" for the transportation of the Maywood soil.

The letter said the assessment lacked "more current accident type and rate data for the segment between Chicago and Cañon City, in particular for the segments of the transport route through Colorado" and failed to evaluate "alternatives to rail transit through Colorado."

The assessment, Butcher’s letter said, also failed to evaluate the impact of what it called "potential releases" from the material and "near-site rail car handling."

Benevento said the assessment also suffered from "the lack of social sciences data assessing the significance or influence — whether favorable, neutral or negative — on the residents of the community and on the perceptions of the many tourists who visit the area."

Benevento added that the portion of Cotter’s application dealing with analyses of public and occupational health risk and safety information was "found to be acceptable."

The health department is also considering Cotter’s application for renewal of its radiation license and is monitoring the current suspension of that license that resulted from a series of safety violations. The CDPHE recently allowed Cotter to begin partial operations to see if it can abide by safety measures imposed by the state.