Cotter Corp. will pay the Environmental Protection Agency about $1 million for past and future contamination analysis at the company’s uranium mill at the Lincoln Park Superfund site, near Cañon City, Colo., according to an agreement EPA announced Wednesday.
The agreement dictates that the uranium production company pay for EPA oversight costs incurred from 2012 to 2014, in addition to future costs of cleanup, which was decided in a separate 2014 agreement. Cotter produced mixed uranium oxide, or yellowcake, at the 2,600-acre uranium mill between 1958 and 2006. The material was used in American uranium ore production.
Craig Silgjord, spokesman for parent company General Atomics, said Thursday the organization has no comment.
EPA said Cotter Corp. discharged tailings and other mill wastes into unlined impoundments, or ponds, between 1958 and 1979. A flood in June 1965 resulted in the ponds overflowing into Sand Creek. Cotter began cleanup of the site in 1988, according to EPA.
The agreement, reached between Cotter, the state of Colorado, and EPA, will be subject to a 30-day public comment period. It also requires Cotter to deliver a detailed report on cleanup work that has been completed at the Fremont County site, along with an evaluation of contamination that may remain in the soil and groundwater in the area. EPA will review the materials and determine if additional measures are needed before the site is removed from the agency’s National Priorities List of contaminated sites. Following cleanup completion, EPA will transfer the site to the Energy Department for long-term management and monitoring.
Environmentalists Jeri Fry and Donna Murphy, with the Colorado Citizens Against Toxic Waste, told Pueblo County commissioners they believe uranium mill wastes have reached the Arkansas River, according to the Canon City Daily Record. Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment officials disputed the claim, saying the department continues to monitor the Arkansas and Pueblo reservoirs.
Environmental Protection Agency spokesman Rich Mylott said by email Friday that the Arkansas River is sampled routinely and results have shown water quality has not been impacted.
“These data include sampling done by the local water utility and samples collected by Cotter and presented in annual reports,” Mylott wrote. “We will continue to work with the Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment to assess data and information moving forward.”
The EPA currently has no firm timeline or total cost for cleanup of the site. Cotter has been paying EPA and the state and will continue to fund cleanup activities, Mylott said.
