Judge: Cotter must remove toxic water in mine along creek

The Denver Post
Posted: 10/01/2011 01:00:00 AM MDT


A state judge on Friday ruled in favor of Colorado mining regulators in a long-running standoff over Cotter Corp.'s refusal to remove highly-toxic water from its defunct uranium mine west of Denver.

The decision by Denver District Judge Robert Hyatt cited "an ample evidentiary basis" for the Colorado Mined Land Reclamation Board's findings.

The Schwartzwalder Mine is northwest of Golden along Ralston Creek​, which flows into a drinking water reservoir owned by Denver Water, which supplies 1.3 million metro area residents. Tests on creek water found uranium levels up to 13 times higher than state health standards.

On Tuesday, state health officials ordered Cotter to divert creek water away the mine and find the source of the contamination.

Cotter, a subsidary of San Diego-based defense contractor General Atomics​ defied repeated state orders and last year filed a lawsuit accusing state regulators of abusing their discretion.

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