CANON CITY—After being blocked by state health officials and state and federal courts, Cotter Corp. has dropped its plan to import radioactive waste from New Jersey to the site of its on-again, off-again uranium mill.
The Pueblo Chieftain said the company is instead considering renovating the mill as prices for the mineral are very high.
Environmentalists and some area residents had opposed the plan to bring 470,000 tons of radioactive waste to a site near Canon City from a Superfund site near Maywood, N.J.
Cotter appealed the health department’s department of its request to state and federal courts but lost, with the last ruling late last year.
“The time frame has passed to appeal that ruling and we’ve made a conscious decision not to appeal it,” said John Hamrick, Cotter mill manager.
“It really shows that ordinary people can make a difference in their community if they work hard enough,” said activist Sharyn Cunningham said.
In 1958, Cotter opened its uranium mill south of Canon City. In 1988, the mill site and a portion of the neighboring Lincoln Park community became an Environmental Protection Agency Superfund site because contamination from unlined tailings ponds seeped into the groundwater.
The mill has operated sporadically since then, but no milling has been done for two years. A skeleton crew remains at the site.
“We are going through the process of making a decision whether to reopen the mill,” Hamrick said Friday. “The equipment is old and tired and they don’t make the parts anymore.”
