People in Pueblo are at the forefront of an emerging partnership between activists, conservationists and a newly created state unit to quantify environmental justice hotspots in Colorado communities and the toxic pollutants that bedevil them.
Environmental Protection Agency
Posted inEnvironment
EPA tells Colorado’s governor there’s no getting out of selling reformulated gas to fight ozone
Colorado has threatened to sue over pricier, cleaner gasoline in 2024, but feds say it should add only 3 cents a gallon and Clean Air Act is a hard rule
Posted inOpinion
Opinion: An alarm is raised, little is done, and employees flee
Fed up with the state’s failure to regulate air permits and after years of quietly watching the quality of Colorado’s air decline, about a year ago three state employees bravely came forward. The whistleblowers called out the state Air Pollution Control Division for rubber-stamping air permits and failing to meet the standards required in the […]
Posted inClimate, Environment, Equity, Health, News
How Colorado’s changing climate is putting children’s health at risk
This March, Colorado State Sen. Faith Winter stood at a podium in the State Capitol and spoke to a gathered crowd about reducing the state’s air pollution. After introductions, Winter, Gov. Jared Polis and others unveiled a package of environmental bills that aim to increase access to public transit, build more energy efficient buildings, and construct safe […]
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Carman: Suncor’s days of beguiling regulators and befouling our air at last may be numbered
There’s a new sheriff in town and, unlike the friendly folks at the Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment, she’s not here just to make nice with environmental outlaws. When former Colorado House Speaker KC Becker was named administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Region 8 office last fall, she promised to further […]
Posted inBusiness, Environment, News
Whistleblowers raised valid concerns about Colorado air pollution monitoring, probe finds, but problems were unintentional
Whistleblowers attacking the Colorado Air Pollution Control Division for conflicts of interest and improper modeling of potential pollution sources raised valid concerns in complaints to the EPA Inspector General, but the state’s violations were not intentional and officials did not falsify data, according to a new report by the state Attorney General’s Office. The report […]
Posted inClimate, Environment, News
Here’s what you need to know about Colorado air pollution — and what you can do about it
The state has issued an ozone health warning for Coloradans every day since July 5. We’ve already accumulated 37 state Ozone Action Alert Days for 2021 by the last week of July, with plenty of scorching August and September weeks left to go, after tallying 43 all of last year. State officials are all but […]
Posted inEnvironment, News, Politics and Government, Water
Colorado refuses to ease rules for how much pollution gets discharged into rivers and streams
The state Water Quality Control Commission has delayed for at least a decade a controversial proposal that would have allowed further degradation of Colorado waters already challenged by pollution In a scheduled review of the state’s “antidegradation” provision — a key to the federal Clean Water Act — some on the commission had sought to […]
Posted inClimate, Environment, Health, News
Some of the worst ozone pollution in the U.S. settles along the Front Range. New rules to fix it are ahead.
When it comes to oxygen, the Front Range sometimes has too much of a good thing. On many sunny, summer days the region has not only O2 in the air but also O3 – oxygen with an extra atom that transforms it into a corrosive gas — ozone. “The extra atom of oxygen turns it […]
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Opinion: It’s time to recommit to controlling methane emissions to combat climate change
Coloradans have been at the forefront of curbing methane waste and pollution from oil and gas operations and their impact on public health and climate change. So it should come as no surprise the Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper and Rep. Diana DeGette are playing lead roles in advancing federal methane policy. Methane, a […]