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Nuclear fuels regulators in Colorado under the thumb of weapons maker General Atomics

“Basically, the judgment of the nuclear fuels industry and its captive regulators in Colorado is not to be trusted when it comes to matters of health, safety, and a clean environment,” 

General Atomics subsidiary wants to stop toxic pond tests, By David O. Williams, Real Aspen – August 14, 2011 Rather than seek an appropriate technological solution, managers of a decommissioned uranium processing mill near Cañon City want the state to let them stop testing a radioactive holding pond because wooden pallets used to cross the pond are sinking into the toxic mud.

Environmental attorneys and watchdog citizen groups point out that the company that owns the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Superfund Cleanup site that’s been leaking into local groundwater since the 1950s is Cotter Corp., a subsidiary of General Atomics, which is a division of General Dynamics – the company that makes high-tech Predator Drones.

(The Crown family of Chicago, who own the Aspen Skiing Co., have long been major investors in General Dynamics. James Crown, managing partner for the Aspen Skiing Co., is the lead director of General Dynamics board.)

As the Denver Post first reported, Cotter officials have asked the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment to allow them to stop testing the pond for acidity. Cotter is in the process of dismantling the old mill, although at one point recently the company was considering re-starting operations there. Now the facility is the subject of ongoing litigation.

Travis Stills, an attorney with the Durango-based Energy Minerals Law Center, points out that these are the same state regulators who will oversee the proposed new Piñon Ridge Uranium Mill that the Canadian company, Energy Fuels, wants to build in western Montrose County.

“Basically, the judgment of the nuclear fuels industry and its captive regulators in Colorado is not to be trusted when it comes to matters of health, safety, and a clean environment,” Stills said in an email. “[Coloradans Against ToxicWaste], without the benefit of attorneys, examined Cotter in 2005 to establish the importance of monitoring and maintaining pH levels to stabilize the tailings and prevent further deterioration of the liners.”

http://www.realaspen.com/blog/782/General-Atomics-subsidiary-wants-to-stop-testing-radioactive-pond-in-Colorado

August 15, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | secrets,lies and civil liberties, Uranium, USA