An Environmental Protection Agency review found Colorado regulators improperly issued air pollution permits to mines, asphalt plants and oil and gas sites, substantiating whistleblower complaints state employees filed with the federal agency last year.

The EPA report, released Thursday, focuses on the division inside the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment that approves and issues air pollution permits to ensure local air quality levels don't fall below federal health standards.

That goal has proven elusive in recent years.

Over the last few summers, ground-level ozone has smothered the Front Range due to a combination of warm temperatures, wildfire smoke and continued urban and industrial development, leaving residents breathing a well-studied and dangerous lung irritant. The EPA has proposed reclassifying the region as a "severe" ozone violator after repeatedly missing deadlines to control the problem.

In March 2021, attorneys for three current and former employees of the Colorado Air Pollution Control Division sent a letter to the EPA's inspector general, the federal agency’s internal watchdog. It alleged a long-standing "culture of permitting at all costs" at the office, which they claimed was partially to blame for the deteriorating air quality along the Front Range.

In their letter, the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, a Maryland-based nonprofit representing the whistleblowers, claimed the state agency had banned “legally required”...

Read Full Story: https://www.cpr.org/2022/07/14/epa-colorado-improper-pollution-permits-whistl...