Cotter Corporation NSL Cañon City, Colorado

To the editor:

Approximately two-thirds of the 99 Cotter violations were for endangering their employees including: Failure to determine dose to embryo; Failure to document exposure to pregnant employee – second offense in a year; Employee hospitalized for chemical burns because three areas had inoperable emergency safety showers.

Cotter has a permit from the Air Pollution Control Division to release 2.3 total tons of hazardous material into the air. They have until July 27 to “self-certify” that they comply with this permit. For the next four months, we won’t know if they are complying. And right now they are taking contaminated dirt from the Old Ponds area and putting it into the dried Secondary Impoundment.

Also, Cotter has asked to “suspend” in-vivo lung scans during this project. When Republican Representative Tom Massey said he wouldn’t want his children working for Cotter… he wasn’t kidding.

Kay Hawklee,

Cañon City