Drinking water in Frisco is tainted with dangerous levels of the PFAS “forever chemicals” from suspected firefighting foam runoff into nearby creeks, according to new EPA guidance that radically lowered safety levels and sent state officials in search of cities with similarly compromised water systems. More than 100 city and town water systems across the […]
Public Employees for environmental responsibility
Posted inEnvironment, Health, News
Colorado may have more sites with dangerous “forever chemicals” than any other state
Colorado may have more locations where dangerous PFAS “forever chemicals” are stored and used than any other state in the U.S., according to a database released by the EPA after challenges from a watchdog group. About 21,000 industrial sites in Colorado appear on the previously undisclosed EPA database of locations that “may be handling” PFAS, […]
Posted inClimate, Environment, News
Colorado air pollution director Garry Kaufman reassigned after conflict of interest investigation
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment has reassigned its top air pollution control official to a newly-created job in the wake of a special investigator’s probe confirming his failure to report a potential conflict of interest. Garry Kaufman, who has led the Air Pollution Control Division since 2017 and previously worked on air […]
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, Energy, Environment, News
Colorado allows an Eastern Plains power plant to emit toxic sulfur dioxide emissions far above safe levels, groups claim
Xcel Energy’s coal-fired Pawnee Generating Station near Fort Morgan is endangering local residents’ health by violating EPA sulfur dioxide emissions standards for hundreds of hours a year, a conservation coalition asking the state to sharply curtail plant air pollution permits said Friday. The coalition used EPA pollution-monitoring data to support its claim that Pawnee often […]
Posted inClimate, Energy, Environment, News
Colorado used since-“retired” memo when writing disputed Suncor refinery pollution permit
In drafting their long-disputed permit renewal for Suncor Energy’s refinery in Commerce City, state air pollution officials used the same 2010 internal guidance memo that they recently “retired” after whistleblowers called the memo illegal and protested it with the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Inspector General, permitting records show. Colorado Department of Public Health and […]
Posted inEnvironment, News
Whistleblowers ask AG to expand probe into Colorado air pollution division
Attorneys for the whistleblowing state air pollution division employees late Friday asked the Colorado Attorney General’s Office to broadly expand the scope of its previously announced investigation into the state health department’s handling of numerous industry permits. The whistleblowers currently or formerly employed by the Air Pollution Control Division, who have grown from three to […]