Region 8
Serving Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, Wyoming and 27 Tribal Nations
Rocky Mountain Steel Mill
Pueblo County is largely rural, with ranches and farms surrounding the City of Pueblo (population 102,121). The county is 38% Hispanic. Median household income is $29,112, and more than 25% of the county's children live below the poverty level.
Many of Pueblo's Hispanic and low-income communities also have the Rocky Mountain Steel Mill as a neighbor. The Mill, which has operated in south Pueblo for more than a century, is a source of emissions of certain criteria air pollutants and several hazardous air pollutants. The communities surrounding the Mill have raised concerns about possible threats to their environment and their health from these emissions.
Staff of the Environmental Justice (EJ) Program in Region 8 have been working with community groups, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, the City and County of Pueblo, and Rocky Mountain Steel Mill to encourage a dialogue regarding community concerns about Mill emissions and their impact on environmental and human health. Additionally, the EJ Program helped to negotiate a number of Supplemental Environmental Projects (SEPs) that the Mill will be funding as part of a settlement with EPA. Among the proposed SEPs are studies on lead hazards in Pueblo homes, asthma education programs, habitat improvements along the Arkansas River, and improvements to neighborhoods around the Mill.
Bringing community groups, government agencies, and industry together is an ongoing challenge in Pueblo County, but it is one that promises to foster further environmental protection, community involvement, and appreciation for the advantages of cooperative negotiation. The Environmental Justice Program continues to participate in these collaborative efforts.
For more information on the involvement of the Environmental Justice Program in the negotiations surrounding the Rocky Mountain Steel Mill, please contact Michael Wenstrom at (303) 312-7009 or by email at Wenstrom.Michael@epa.gov