Environmental Defense Slams Colorado for Opposing Enforcement of Vital Clean Airs Laws

Denver – Environmental Defense slammed the State of Colorado for joining Alabama and some of the biggest polluters in the nation in fighting against cleaner, healthier air for America by filing a brief today in the U.S. Supreme Court opposing enforcement of the nation’s bedrock clean air laws (to receive a copy of the brief, please email scrowley@environmentaldefesnse.org or vpatton@environmentaldefense.org).  

 
The case before the high court – Environmental Defense, et al. v. Duke Energy Corporation – presents pivotal questions about whether some 17,000 industrial smokestacks and power plants nationwide must be accountable to meet today’s cost-effective pollution control standards.    The case is scheduled for oral argument on November 1st.  
 
“Colorado has joined Alabama and the nation’s largest polluters in opposing enforcement of vital clean air protections before the highest court in the land at the same time that the children of Colorado suffered through a summer of dangerous smog pollution,” said Environmental Defense senior attorney Vickie Patton.   “Twenty-one states, the U.S. Government, the American Lung Association and an unprecedented coalition of medical experts are supporting enforcement of our nation’s clean air laws before the Supreme Court.   Colorado is not only fighting against basic clean air protections for our children’s health, but it is opposing protections that are good for our economy and our quality of life.”  
 
Colorado joins Alabama and Duke Power Company in fighting clean air at the same time that Coloradoans suffered extensive summertime smog pollution levels that reached across the Colorado Front Range and threatened human health. This summer smog levels at ten monitoring stations in the Denver region exceeded the federal health standard. The elevated pollution concentrations were widespread, extending from Chatfield Park to Fort Collins, and including Rocky Mountain National Park, where a high value of 91 parts per billion (ppb) was recorded on July 14. The highest concentration in the region was a value of 97 ppb recorded at the Fort Collins West monitor, also on July 14.   Breathing ozone at levels close to or above the health standard can cause a range of adverse respiratory effects including increased numbers of hospital admissions and emergency room visits in children and adults with preexisting respiratory diseases such as asthma, and increased rates of death from respiratory and cardiovascular causes. 
 
The U.S. Government, 21 States and the nation’s leading medical associations support the clean air case.   The following entities and experts have supported Environmental Defense’s position before the high court including:
 
  • former EPA Administrator Carol M. Browner
  • former EPA Administrator Russell E. Train
  • State and Territorial Air Pollution Program Administrators and the Association of Local Air Pollution Control Officials (the nation’s professional association of state and local air pollution control officials)
  • American Lung Association
  • American Thoracic Society
  • American Association for Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation
  • National Association for the Medical Direction of Respiratory Care
  • American College of Chest Physicians
  • Arizona
  • California
  • Connecticut
  • Delaware
  • District of Columbia
  • Kentucky
  • New Jersey
  • Michigan
  • New York
  • Illinois
  • Iowa
  • Maine
  • Maryland
  • Massachusetts
  • Minnesota
  • New Hampshire
  • New Mexico
  • Oregon
  • Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection
  • Rhode Island
  • Vermont
  • Washington

One of the world’s leading international nonprofit organizations, Environmental Defense Fund (edf.org) creates transformational solutions to the most serious environmental problems. To do so, EDF links science, economics, law, and innovative private-sector partnerships. With more than 3 million members and offices in the United States, China, Mexico, Indonesia and the European Union, EDF’s scientists, economists, attorneys and policy experts are working in 28 countries to turn our solutions into action. Connect with us on Twitter @EnvDefenseFund