Fremont County Independent Outreach Committee

Final vote could be as soon as today.

Posted: Wednesday, April 28, 2010 12:00 am

By PATRICK MALONE | pmalone@chieftain.com | 0 comments

DENVER — The state Senate on Tuesday gave preliminary approval to a bill that would require Cotter uranium mill to clean up its pollution before taking on new jobs.

Proponents of the bill contend Cotter has been poisoning the environment for decades and done little about it, while representatives of the company have said the proposed legislation would be a poison pill for its operation.

Sponsored by Sen. Ken Kester, R-Las Animas, and Rep. Buffie McFadyen, D-Pueblo West, HB1348 would require Cotter to address past environmental contamination before it would be permitted to accept new materials.

In committee hearings, company representatives have said Cotter hopes to accept waste from Mount Taylor in New Mexico that would bring up to 60 jobs to the mill near Canon City. They said the bill would place an unrealistic obstacle between the company and its prospective expansion.

Furthermore, Cotter officials have said without the money that the Mount Taylor job would bring, mitigating pollution as the bill would require would not be feasible.

But proponents of the bill have said Cotter has had plenty of time to clean up its messes during the 25 years that it has been a federal Superfund site. Proponents also criticized the company's lax approach to plumes of groundwater contamination that it is not actively trying to address.

Spotlighted during hearings in both chambers on the bill were the 99 environmental violations of the mill during the past decade. Its managers said those have been greatly reduced during the past five years, when a wholesale change in upper management took place.

The House already has passed the bill, and a final vote on it in the Senate could come as soon as today.