Colorado’s Attorney General Phil Weiser met with members of the Community Advisory Group on Friday to talk about an issue they have been fighting against for many years.
Cleanup of the Lincoln Park/Cotter Superfund area.
Colorado’s Attorney General Phil Weiser met with local residents from the Lincoln Park/Cotter Superfund site Community Advisory Group on Friday to address their worries about the management and monitoring of the Superfund site, located two miles south of Cañon City. Shown is Weiser, on the left, talking to Jeri Fry, who facilitated the meeting and a tour of the impacted areas. (Carie Canterbury – Daily Record)
The Cotter Corp. managed the uranium mill and waste storage areas at the Superfund site for many years, located two miles south of Cañon City. Radioactive substances and heavy metals entered the environment via polluted groundwater and soil, rendering some private water wells in Lincoln Park undrinkable, as stated by CAG.
Weiser was invited by CAG to address issues that community members have about the regulation and monitoring of the Superfund site. Although Weiser is running for governor in the 2026 general election, he was only serving in his role as AG on Friday.
“The community had significant concerns and wanted to be acknowledged, so I’m here,” he stated during a presentation on the Lincoln Park/Cotter Superfund site at the Royal Gorge Regional Museum and History Center.
The Lincoln Park/Cotter location has been designated as a Superfund site for over 41 years. According to data from CAG, past activities involving a uranium mill and waste storage areas at the site have polluted groundwater, soil, and the atmosphere. It will take many years before the area and surrounding affected neighborhoods can be cleaned up.
Cotter managed and ran the site from the late 1950s until 2018, when it transferred ownership and regulatory control of the site to Colorado Legacy Land. Cotter provided CLL a confidential sum of money in exchange for taking over the ownership and operating the site.
In 2023, they left the keys in the parking lot and departed,” said Jeri Fry, who coordinated and managed Friday’s event and tour. “They filed for bankruptcy and surrendered the license. Even the state no longer had control over the license.
CAG notes that during those five years, only minimal progress was made, primarily focusing on fundamental site upkeep and security, along with a single document that was approved out of many necessary under the federal Superfund Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act procedure.
CLL currently holds the property, but they are not paying the associated taxes,” Fry stated. “We have observed several parcels being put up for tax sale, which is very worrying. They also possess the Radioactive Materials License, and the state has informed us that they cannot reclaim the license.
There remains five million tons of radioactive waste at the Superfund site, Fry stated, which is a combination of mixed waste.
Fry discussed with Weiser the concern regarding CAG about the appearance of a conflict of interest, as the site’s owner (CLL, which currently consists of just one individual) is also a contractor for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment in meeting the state’s Radioactive Materials License requirements that were previously held by CLL, and is a contractor for Cotter Corp. concerning Cotter’s mandated Superfund work at the site (Cotter was rehired at the site by the federal Environmental Protection Agency as the Responsible Party).
She sought a viewpoint from the Office of the Attorney General regarding the possible conflict of interest.
At the end of Friday’s presentation and tour, Weiser mentioned that Fry downplayed the intensity of his experience during the visit.
Now I’ll be examining more than 60 years of history concerning radioactive and harmful substances,” he stated. “The troubling question is, what are the ongoing effects today? That’s a question the community is asking, and it’s one we need to improve at answering as a state.
As AG, Weiser stated he sees his position as that of the people’s advocate, and his office is the one responsible for handling CERCLA cases, including those involving Cotter.
CERCLA liability is distinct in the law because it doesn’t conclude,” he stated. “Therefore, Cotter continues to be responsible for the damage it caused. I need to revisit and determine the possible methods to address the questions being raised and develop an effective approach moving forward that takes into account the community’s questions, listens to their worries, and tackles the situation. I would like to say, you all have been patient; this has lasted for a very long time.
Weiser mentioned that based on what he heard, there hasn’t been any initiative since 2011 that led to tangible improvements.
There has been preparation for remediation, but no actual remediation has taken place; there has been no measurement or disclosure that the community has requested,” he said. “I will return to the right individuals and see what we can do, and whether we can provide the community with some of the answers it is looking for.
The Royal Gorge Regional Museum & History Center has joined forces with Colorado Citizens Against Toxic Waste to create an informative exhibit about the Lincoln Park/Cotter Superfund site. This exhibit highlights the history and environmental effects of the area. The Royal Gorge Regional Museum & History Center, situated at 612 Royal Gorge Blvd., also serves as the local archive for records and reports related to the Lincoln Park/Cotter Superfund site. For additional details, contact the museum by calling 719-269-9036 or by emailing.historycenter@canoncity.org.
For additional details regarding the Superfund location, visithttps://www.ccatoxicwaste.org/, https://cdphe.colorado.gov/CLL/lincoln-park-Superfund-site, or https://cumulis.epa.gov/supercpad/cursites/csitinfo.cfm?id=0800115.
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