Cotter Corporation NSL Cañon City, Colorado

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DENVER — A citizens group has filed a lawsuit accusing Colorado regulators of failing to require Cotter Corp. to set aside enough money to clean up its uranium mill in Canon City.

Colorado Citizens Against Toxic Waste filed the lawsuit in Denver District Court against the state health department and others.

It says the department has estimated it will cost at least $43 million to decommission and decontaminate Cotter's mill, which is a Superfund site, but the state let Cotter set its financial surety at $20.2 million.

The health department officially had not been served with the lawsuit as of Wednesday morning and had no comment.

A Cotter representative did not return a phone message Wednesday seeking comment.

Last week,Colorado Citizens Against Toxic Waste members voiced disappointment in a recent health assessment relating to exposure to Cotter Uranium Mill contamination.

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention delved into health concerns for Canon City residents living near the Lincoln Park/Cotter Uranium Mill Superfund site.

It found that long-term ingestion of contaminated private well water may have put some people in the Lincoln Park neighborhood adjacent to the mill at risk for health problems.

Most neighborhood residents use the public water supply and are not exposed to the contaminant, according to the report.

The mill processed yellowcake uranium from 1958 to 1987.

In 1988, the mill was identified by the Environmental Protection Agency as a Superfund cleanup site.

In 2004, local physicians asked the EPA for epidemiology studies to confirm or refute suspicions that illnesses associated with uranium processing contamination exist. The CDC was asked to help.

Cotter has another uranium site — the defunct Schwartzwalder mine west of Denver. The Denver Post reports that Cotter faces at least a $55,000 fine for failing to clean up that site.

Since April, Cotter has faced repeated state orders to pump and treat toxic water filling the mine along Ralston Creek, which flows into a Denver Water reservoir that provides drinking water.

The creek contains uranium levels as high as 310 parts per billion, which is more than 10 times the 30 ppb health standard for drinking water.

Cotter contends the water in the mine shaft is not connected to groundwater, but state mining regulators disagree.

Cotter Vice President John Hamrick declined to discuss the conflict. "Cotter has not changed its position," he said.

Hamrick said a pumping operation begun in July removes contaminants from surface alluvial ponds along Ralston Creek, but water in the 2,000-foot-deep mine shaft is untouched.

For now, drinking water delivered to 1.3 million metro area residents continues to meet drinking-water standards, said Denver Water spokeswoman Stacy Chesney.

Chieftain correspondent Tracy Harmon contributed to this report.