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 Clean Air Act. On their behalf, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility loudly filed a complaint with the federal Environmental Protection Agency Office of Inspector General.
Since that time, though the state Attorney General hired a special counsel, who found problems in the permitting process, little has changed. Colorado is proceeding with its unsustainable strategy of merrily monitoring pollution rather than preventing it.
