Legislators Call for Hearing on Clean Air Rules

Media Releases

Environment Colorado

DENVER—A bipartisan group of legislators, including Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald and Speaker of the House Andrew Romanoff, have requested a legislative hearing on proposed changes to the state’s clean air rules. The changes would affect the state’s New Source Review program, which requires industrial facilities to install modern pollution controls when expanding operations and increasing pollution in surrounding communities.

Republican Mark Larson and Democrat Jim Isgar joined Fitz-Gerald and Romanoff on a letter delivered yesterday to members of the Legislative Council Committee requesting that a hearing take place to investigate air quality and public health implications of the rules.

“We applaud this bi-partisan group of legislators for expressing concern over these rule changes,” noted Elizabeth-Ann Rowlison, Clean Air Advocate at Environment Colorado. “We owe it to the people of Colorado to ensure that public health will not be harmed by these rule changes.”

A broad coalition of public health organizations, local governments and environmental groups raised concerns about the proposed changes when the Colorado Air Quality Control Commission was considering them last year. The coalition believed that the rule changes would increase air pollution in the state, which could lead to more asthma attacks and other respiratory problems.

The New Source Review rule changes were created by the U.S. EPA and are now in the process of being implemented on the state level across the country. Fourteen states are challenging the rules in Federal court, arguing that the changes are illegal. The Colorado Air Quality Control Commission approved the changes last year and they now await approval from the State Legislature.