The 80216 area code has been called the most polluted zip code in Denver. Residential neighborhoods sit next to (and on top of) smelting plants that have been in operation for over one-hundred years. ASARCO’s smelting facility in Globeville had been operating since 1886. Taken to court in 1983 by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, a settlement was reached in May 1993 and the area was put on the EPA’s National Priorities List that July. Residential clean-up, which included digging up and replacing yards, was completed in 2002.

My interest in the EPA’s Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (aka, CERCLA or more commonly, Superfund) stems from a desire to clarify the nature of these areas in and around Colorado. I have no specific agenda, I do not intend this to be a journalistic exposé, it is more of an attempt to satiate my curiosity surrounding these sites.

The following photographs are from areas around the neighborhood, including the oil refinery a mile or two north in Commerce City. They are from the first visit of the most convenient site…it is hard to speak to the future of the project. I would like to visit every major site in Colo. just to get a well rounded idea of the aesthetic states of these various sites.