'This is our Flint': Colorado environmental activists call for investigation following whistleblower

‘This is our Flint’: Colorado environmental activists call for investigation following whistleblower complaint


A coalition of environmental and community groups who have spent years pressuring Colorado’s health department to crack down on air pollution say that the allegations contained in a federal whistleblower complaint this week painted a picture of the agency that’s even worse than they feared.

“This is a huge, huge deal,” said Jeremy Nichols, climate and energy program director with advocacy group WildEarth Guardians, during a virtual press conference Thursday. “We cannot overstate the severity of this news, and what it means for our health and well-being.”

“This is our Flint, Michigan,” said Ean Thomas Tafoya, an activist with the Colorado Latino Forum. “Government corruption at the sake of people’s health.”

Nichols, Tafoya and other activists are demanding an independent investigation into what they call the “official misconduct” alleged by the whistleblower complaint, which was filed on March 30 by three air-quality modelers employed by the Air Pollution Control Division, an agency within the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

Read more: https://coloradonewsline.com/2021/04/02/this-is-our-flint-colorado-environmental-activists-call-for-investigation-following-whistleblower-complaint/