From The Pueblo Chieftain (Tracy Harmon):
“They are working toward closing the impoundments and have been dewatering (drying out) the impoundments for years,” said Jeannine Natterman, public information officer for the Colorado Department of Health. “They have not officially notified us they are closing the (entire) facility.”[…]
The mill and the neighboring Lincoln Park neighborhood have been part of a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Superfund clean up site since 1984…
“They have planned to close the impoundments all along and they have been taking old structures down. What the letter means is that they are close to permanently capping the impoundments,” Natterman explained. “Even once capped, the primary impoundment can be used for new, more contemporary operations because it would not have the same material going in. If it is appropriately capped and appropriate materials are used for the cap, the primary impoundment could be used again,” Natterman said.
From The Pueblo Chieftain (Tracy Harmon):
In late 2005, Cotter ceased normal operations and stabilized the facility to go into a “stand down” condition. Cotter Corp. executives said the company sought to evaluate operational changes to the mill and assess the feasibility and costs for restart of a re-engineered mill.
Mill operations have released radioactive materials and metals into the environment. These releases contaminated soil and groundwater around the mill and the Lincoln Park area, according to the Colorado Department of Public Health.The Cotter/Lincoln Park Site was added to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s National Priorities List in 1984, making it a Superfund site. Cleanup activities to date have focused on eliminating the mill site as a source of contamination to Lincoln Park, and eliminating exposures to Lincoln Park residents.
Cleanup activities since 1988 have caused the contaminated groundwater plume in Lincoln Park to shrink in size. However, in 2008, Cotter Corp. received a notice of violation from the state health department indicating a contaminated plume of groundwater exists underneath the uranium mill’s neighbor — the Shadow Hills Golf Course, because new groundwater analytical results provide a better definition of the plume of radioactive material north and west of the mill.