The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) added the former Colorado Smelter site in Pueblo, Colorado, to the National Priorities List (NPL) of Superfund sites.
Superfund is the federal program that investigates and cleans up the most complex, uncontrolled or abandoned hazardous waste sites to protect public health and the environment.
EPA proposed the Colorado smelter site for addition to the NPL on May 12, 2014 and conducted a 60 day public comment period on the proposal. After reviewing and responding to all comments in a responsiveness summary, EPA has added the site to the NPL.
The former Colorado smelter site is located within a mixed use neighborhood near the Arkansas River and Pueblo’s central business district. In 2011, EPA and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) completed a site assessment that found elevated levels of lead and arsenic in residential soils and large slag piles in the vicinity of the site. These results indicated a comprehensive cleanup is necessary to reduce health risks for current and future residents. EPA and CDPHE have been working with city and county officials, community groups, interested stakeholders, and residents to develop information and identify next steps in addressing the contamination.
In addition to finalizing the Colorado smelter site to the NPL, EPA is announcing that the ASARCO Globe Plant site in northeast Denver will be withdrawn from proposed listing on the NPL. Although the site was proposed for the NPL in 1993, site characterization and cleanup of the site has since occurred under a series of agreements between the State of Colorado and ASARCO, Inc. Upon completion of the cleanup in 2015, construction of a business park for warehousing, distribution and light industry will begin.
Published in the February 2015 Edition of American Recycler News