Pueblo, CO – Today, following the combined efforts from Colorado Senators Michael Bennet and Mark Udall and Congressman Scott Tipton, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced that it will add the former Colorado Smelter site in Pueblo to the National Priorities List through the agency’s Superfund program. Superfund is a federal program that investigates and cleans up the most complex, uncontrolled or abandoned hazardous waste sites. Bennet, Udall, and Tipton worked closely with Governor John Hickenlooper and Pueblo elected officials to urge the EPA to include the site, and sent a letter in March urging the EPA to help with cleanup efforts as the community lacked the necessary resources.
“The addition of the smelter site to the Superfund list is an important step forward for ensuring the health and safety of residents and is a huge win for the community,” Bennet said. “The listing will provide Pueblo with the necessary resources to expedite cleanup efforts, prevent the spread of contamination, and help maintain property values and quality of life. We look forward to working with the EPA and local officials to move this project forward.”
“I am proud the EPA has heeded my and the local community’s calls to swiftly clean up the Colorado Smelting Company property as part of the agency’s Superfund program,” Udall said. “This decision will ensure the necessary steps are taken to confront the site’s contamination and protect Pueblo residents’ health and safety.”
From 1883 to 1908 the Colorado Smelting Company contaminated parts of Pueblo with lead, arsenic, and other heavy metals, and recent soil tests have confirmed that the contamination has spread to surrounding neighborhoods. In some neighborhoods, contamination levels were found to be three times higher than average. A listing under the EPA Superfund program will help clean up the abandoned hazardous waste site.
The EPA proposed the project be added to the National Priorities List in May, following the delegation letter, and then conducted a 60 day public comment period. The Superfund program, established in 1980, benefits communities affected by hazardous waste sites by reducing threats to human health, protecting ecological systems, improving economic conditions and quality of life.
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