Lead Concern Arises At Disposal Site

Is soil containing neutralized lead leaching from a disposal site into a creek in northeast Colorado Springs?

Scott Hente, president of the City Council, says it’s not.

“I guarantee you the state would not have approved (a) cleanup plan if they thought there was going to be runoff from that material into state waters,” he said.

However, Ross Clinger, a neighbor and retired rancher, fears otherwise.

“I can’t tell you there’s actually lead going into Cottonwood Creek today,” he said. “But tomorrow is a long way off.”

In 2006, Hente’s company, RS Construction and Development, owned the site where the soil was removed — the former Isaac Walton Gun Club on Cowpoke Road — and the disposal site nearby, in a gully north of the intersection of Powers Boulevard and Woodmen Road.

Hente said bullets and other debris from the club were neutralized and buried at least 35 feed deep at the disposal site, and that state officials inspected and approved the cleanup plan.

“The state wants a lot of these old sites cleaned up,” said Hente. “The state gives you a tax credit, and we wanted to get that tax credit, and the only way we could get it is if we did everything by the book. And that’s exactly what we did.”

But Clinger said the situation warrants further investigation, and wants local leaders to take him more seriously. He also said they may be less likely to do so because he is suing El Paso County over a separate land issue.

“I took (lead concern) before the county commissioners in 2009 in an open meeting and nothing has come of it,” said Clinger.

Signs from two real estate agents currently list the property for sale. Hente said the property is in a good location and likely will be used for some future development. But Clinger said the lead should be in either an approved landfill or used for a parking lot.

KRDO Newschannel 13 is awaiting a response from the county and the state health department on the possibility of health risks from the disposal.