Independent pollution probe
Whistleblowers claim state officials unlawfully issued permits, falsified data
Colorado is launching an independent investigation of whistleblower allegations that officials in the state health department responsible for controlling air pollution ordered employees to stop measuring surges of harmful sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and particulates at industrial sites.
Gov. Jared Polis and Jill Hunsaker Ryan, director of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, directed Attorney General Phil Weiser to hire an outside group to probe the allegations by the three whistleblowers in the health department’s Air Pollution Control Division.
Last month, the whistleblowers sent a formal complaint to the federal Environmental Protection Agency’s inspector general alleging a culture of approving permits for industrial polluters at all costs, sacrificing public health.
They focused on permits allowing oil and gas industry facilities north of metro Denver to operate and said managers in one case directed employees who conduct modeling to measure air pollution to falsify data from a Teller County gold mine to ensure a violation would not be reported.
“A factual investigation will consider allegations in the EPA letter that permits were unlawfully issued and that a CDPHE modeler was ordered to falsify data in a modeling report to ensure that no modeled violation
would be reported,” according to a notice Weiser issued Monday.
And the investigators will evaluate whether the state health department had the discretion under federal law to relax air quality reviews of so-called “minor source” industrial facilities to ensure swift issuance of required permits. Then, the notice said, investigators will report their findings publicly.
The whistleblowers — health department employees Rosendo Majano, DeVondria Reynolds and Bradley Rink — made their allegations in a March 30 letter asking the EPA to investigate.
Attorney Kevin Bell for the Maryland-based group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility filed the complaint on behalf of the employees. They contend the Air Pollution Control Division unlawfully is “contributing directly to chronic health problems, premature deaths and severe injury to the environment by permitting ever more dangerous emissions.”
Colorado leaders’ decision to conduct an independent investigation shows that “the people who are in power are taking what the whistleblowers are telling them seriously,” Bell said Tuesday.
While federal air pollution law gives state authorities some discretion, Bell said, “before a permit is issued the state or the EPA has to determine that the issuance of that permit will not contribute to a violation of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards. And they’ve been issuing permits for all this time with knowledge there could be a violation. They absolutely do not have that discretion. The discretion they have is in determining how not to violate those health standards.”
The air pollution allowed under permits granted to companies at industrial sites contributes to the unhealthy levels of groundlevel ozone for which Colorado has been deemed a serious violator of federal health standards.
State air quality officials previously told The Denver Post that air pollution control director Garry Kaufman had conferred with Weiser’s office and the EPA before directing employees to shorten reviews for industrial facilities. An agency statement said “our modeling policies are in accordance with federal and state laws and we have carefully reviewed the relevant laws in consultation with both the Colorado Attorney General’s Office and the federal Environmental Protection Agency.”
On Tuesday, the health department issued a statement welcoming an independent investigation.
“While we are confident that the division is acting in accordance with state and federal laws, we are committed to being responsive to the concerns raised and transparent in everything we do to serve the public and protect the public’s health and environment,” the statement said. “We plan to respect the process and ongoing investigation.”
Colorado’s increasingly urbanized Front Range for years has flunked the federal air quality health standards set by the EPA. Last year, Gov. Jared Polis acknowledged public health concerns when federal officials reclassified Colorado as being a “serious” violator of the Clean Air Act, requiring stricter enforcement of pollution limits. Colorado in the coming years is expected to become a “severe” violator of air quality limits, which would force even stricter efforts to clean up air by making rules and tightening controls through issuance of permits.
A coalition of environmental and neighborhood groups had asked Polis to conduct an independent investigation of the allegations and demanded that the state stop issuing permits to industrial polluters until an investigation is done. The notice posted by the attorney general’s office seeks bids by May 10 from outside legal groups interested in conducting the investigation — due to the potential for a conflict of interest because state attorneys represent state health department agencies including the Air Pollution Control Division.
This controversy has surfaced at a time when state air pollution control officials have proposed to renew outdated operating permits for major polluters including the Suncor Energy oil refinery north of Denver. Public hearings on that proposal are scheduled next month before this investigation begins. Neighborhood groups have been demanding closure of the refinery for health reasons and to spur a faster shift off fossil fuels.
The whistleblower complaint alleged managers short-circuited modeling used to estimate pollution levels at so-called “minor source” industrial facilities that emit less than 100 tons a year of pollution — not the refinery, which emits more than 800,000 tons of pollution over metro Denver.