Appeal Filed to Strengthen Colorado’s Disproportionately Impacted Community Permitting Rule

Denver, CO —

Environmental justice and conservation groups today filed an appeal to strengthen Colorado’s disproportionately impacted community permitting rule after a state court ruled against the plaintiffs in late August. The groups argue that Colorado’s polluter permitting rule does not meet the requirements of the state’s Environmental Justice Act and remain confident that justice will be served for impacted communities through the appeal process.

“At a time when civil rights and environmental protections are under attack, GreenLatinos will do everything in our power to defend the communities most impacted by pollution — and to uphold the hard-fought Environmental Justice Act our communities demanded and won,” said Ean Tafoya, VP of State Programs GreenLatinos and Co-Chair of the Colorado Environmental Justice Action Task Force.

The Colorado Environmental Justice Act required the commission to establish rules providing for “enhanced modeling and monitoring requirements for new and modified sources of affected pollutants in disproportionately impacted communities” and to consider requiring enhanced monitoring for existing sources.

“Through this appeal, we are seeking justice for Coloradans who have historically been forced to bear far more pollution than others throughout our state,” said Andrew Forkes-Gudmundson, senior manager for state policy with Earthworks. “The rule that was adopted by the commission perpetuates the exact same problem it was meant to fix. We remain hopeful that the appeal will lead to compliance with the requirements of the Environmental Justice Act.”

The groups argue that the rule improperly divides disproportionately impacted communities (DICs) into two classes — with one class receiving less protection than the other; allows most polluters to avoid monitoring their emissions at the source by paying a vague “community monitoring fee”; fails to monitor most harmful toxics air pollutants; and limits its most stringent requirements to a handful of sources. The groups seek to send the rule back to the Air Quality Control Commission to comply with the requirements of the Environmental Justice Act.

In its initial rulemaking, the Air Quality Control Commission did not adequately explain why it was making its decisions and rejecting arguments from the impacted parties. The groups hope to force the commission to lay out its reasoning for various conclusions and force accountability moving forward.

“We are proud to be a part of this legal action — we can’t just look the other way when rules are passed that do not protect frontline communities adequately from pollution, especially when historically exploited communities are under attack right now on many fronts,” said Heidi Leathwood, climate policy analyst with 350 Colorado. “Our goal is to achieve rules that live up to the commitment our legislature made: people are more important than profit.”

“This appeal continues our fight to protect disproportionately impacted communities from Colorado’s worst polluters,” said Ian Coghill, senior attorney with Earthjustice’s Rocky Mountain Office. “We believe strongly that the state’s polluter permitting rule does not meet the requirements of the Environmental Justice Act and must be strengthened. We remain hopeful that the court of appeals will help to provide the justice that this law intended.”

Earthjustice is representing GreenLatinos, 350 Colorado, and Earthworks in the suit.