Cotter Corporation NSL Cañon City, Colorado

BARRY NOREEN

THE GAZETTE

Two weeks ago the Cotter Corp.’s dreams of reopening a uranium enrichment mill in Cañon City seemingly were dealt another blow, when the Colorado Department of Health and Environment granted a license (see my blog) for a mill that would be built near Naturita in southwestern Colorado.

Plenty of hurdles remain for the proposed Piñon Ridge facility, but it has important advantages over any plan to resurrect a controversial mill in Cañon City. Piñon Ridge is in the heart of Colorado’s uranium country, where any new mining is likely to occur.

Politically, Piñon Ridge is an easier sell because many residents there have ample experience with the nuclear industry. Unlike the Fremont County commissioners, who lined up against Cotter, the Montrose County commissioners support Piñon Ridge.

Nuclear energy will play a larger role in America’s market someday, but the Piñon Ridge facility won’t reduce our dependence on foreign energy sources. Energy Fuels, the firm pushing Piñon Ridge, has said its enriched uranium would be sold to Asian buyers.

Sharyn Cunningham, who spearheaded opposition to Cotter by co-founding Colorado Citizens Against ToxicWaste in 2002, said she’s not sure the Piñon Ridge license will kill Cotter’s Cañon City plans. Even if it does, she doubts that the state has improved its regulatory apparatus enough to be trusted.

“I find it hard to trust that the radiation-management unit will do a better job regulating the new plant at Piñon Ridge,” she said. She noted that state regulators placed an $11 million cleanup bond on the Piñon Ridge license, even though “the cheapest cleanup in Colorado (in Durango) was $50 million.”

Cunningham questioned whether the company just wants to profit by receiving nuclear waste at a dump at the mill.

The industry’s cleanup record is poor. Additionally, Cotter was less than forthright in 2001, when it quietly attempted to ship thousands of tons of radioactive waste to Cañon City from New Jersey.

When that was disallowed, Cotter moved to shut down the Cañon City operation.

Many are still scared of uranium. When companies such as Cotter try to move waste on the sly, it makes those fears seem justified.

Still, electric cars will ramp up the nation’s need for electricity. When people talk about reducing America’s dependence on foreign oil without adding nuclear power to the menu, they’re being dishonest. Renewable energy won’t keep millions of electric cars on the road.

“I’ve watched these guys slip and slide so much,” Cunningham said. “In the end this has been such a boom-and-bust industry.”

The boom is returning. Cunningham is still dealing with the bust.

Read more: http://www.gazette.com/articles/cotter-111370-ago-uranium.html#ixzz1Bauvcgpv