July 15, 2022
The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday faulted Colorado air quality regulators for failing to comply with requirements under the federal Clean Air Act, further corroborating the substance of allegations made by a group of whistleblowers in a 2021 complaint.
The three whistleblowers, who were current or former employees of the modeling unit at the Colorado Air Pollution Control Division, alleged a pattern of unlawful permitting of certain pollution sources. An independent investigation ordered by Attorney General Phil Weiser concluded last year that the APCD, a division of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, "failed to follow mandatory requirements" under federal law.
An extensive review conducted by the EPA's Region 8 headquarters in Denver echoes the findings of the state's investigation, confirming that the APCD's procedures for minor source permitting were inconsistent with Clean Air Act requirements and "could result in harm to air quality and public health."
"The records showed that CDPHE issued permits even though air quality modeling analyses predicted (air quality) violations," the report says. "These violations predicted by the model were not addressed by refined or more representative air quality modeling, use of supplemental air quality data to support the permit conditions, or...
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