Fremont County Independent Outreach Committee

Posted: Sunday, May 2, 2010 12:00 am

THE STATE finally has teeth to force Cotter to clean up its pollution if the company wants to take on new work.

Last week the Colorado Senate passed House Bill 1348 by a 2-1 margin and sent the measure to the governor. The bill requires Cotter to address existing pollution at its Fremont County plant before it can accept new materials.

Company officials said the measure will stand in the way of a large job that would provide the capital necessary to accomplish the pollution mitigation that the state expects. That’s putting the cart before the horse.

The Cotter Corp. is an affiliate of General Atomics, which purchased the firm from Commonwealth Edison in in 2000. General Atomics has financial resources to invest in the cleanup — if it has the desire to do the right thing.

Sen. Ken Kester, R-Las Animas, who sponsored the bill, noted that had Cotter started cleaning up the plant 10 or 20 years ago, the legislation would have been unnecessary. But Cotter has dragged its feet repeatedly.

Two groundwater plumes — in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Canon City and around the city's golf course — have been identified as groundwater contamination sites. The most recent was found in 1992, and Cotter has simply let the contamination dissipate on its own.

Cotter has been a federal Superfund site for 25 years with little to show for it. Contamination has not measurably decreased during that time, and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment has cited it for 99 violations during the past decade. However, Sen. Kester does concede that since a wholesale change in management of the mill about five years ago, violations have decreased exponentially.

The bill requires Cotter to monitor groundwater contamination and report it annually to residents of affected areas. The report must include an explanation of what Cotter is doing to address the pollution.

We realize that Cotter has been and can continue to be an important source of employment for Fremont County, and so we hope the company will see the light and clean up its mess so it can continue operating — responsibly now.