Uranium Mill Let off the Hook

The Cotter Corporation uranium mill in Cañon City, Colorado has been let off the hook--again--and Rocky Mountain Clean Air Action and local citizens have fired back.

Last May, the uranium mill not only violated clean air laws by failing to use best available pollution controls, but put the health of the nearby community squarely at risk. The mill, which uses solvent to extract radioactive uranium and vanadium from ores, released over four times the amount of toxic volatile organic compounds it was allowed to release.

The Cotter uranium mill and its ponds of solvent.

This was not an isolated incident. The uranium mill is a chronic polluter and the Colorado Air Pollution Control Division has taken several enforcement actions against the Cotter Corporation for violating clean air laws. The state of Colorado even has a webpage dedicated solely to the Cotter uranium mill because of the problems at the mill. This is all extremely disturbing since the mill processes radioactive materials.

Despite its sordid air pollution history, the Colorado Air Pollution Control Division gave the Cotter uranium mill what amounts to a gentle slap on the wrist for air violations last May. Not only did the state levy a meager fine, but the state didn't even require the uranium mill to install pollution controls. In fact, the state didn't even revoke Cotter's air pollution permit. The uranium mill is still free to operate, pollute the air, and put peoples' health at risk.

Rocky Mountain Clean Air Action, Colorado Citizens Against ToxicWaste, and the Lincoln Park community of Cañon City have asked the Colorado Air Pollution Control Division to stick up for clean air when it comes to the Cotter uranium mill.

It's one thing to give a polluter a chance to clean up its act. It's another thing to let a polluter off the hook when it continually violates clean air laws, especially when that polluter is a radioactive uranium mill.