Colorado Air Quality Control Commission (AQCC) held a meeting this week to address several issues of concern to the Colorado Chamber, including the implementation of certain SB 181 requirements, regional haze, and the possible redesignation of the Denver area’s air quality to “serious” nonattainment.
John Jacus, Chair of the Colorado Chamber’s Energy & Environment Council, provided comments at the meeting on behalf of the Chamber.
“The Chamber’s members are concerned that this Commission is embarking on an aggressive schedule of significant rulemakings in the next couple of years that could easily result in a departure from its past practice and commitment to robust stakeholder processes preceding formal rulemaking,” Jacus said. “We urge you to take and make the time for meaningful stakeholder engagement to develop better regulations and regulatory policies and solutions.”
In the AQCC meeting, Jacus noted his comments to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) earlier this month regarding their proposed rule to reclassify the Denver area’s air quality designation, which would severely impact the Colorado business community. The proposed rule comes after Gov. Jared Polis in March 2019 withdrew the state’s prior request to the EPA for an extension of the attainment date for one year, action which all but assured a lowering of the Colorado’s air quality rating from “moderate” to “serious” nonattainment for ozone. Jacus emphasized the need for meaningful stakeholder engagement before adopting new regulations.
“We also generally favor narrowly-scoped rulemaking to address discrete regulatory issues… as opposed to broad, open-ended rulemaking that can result in all manner of proposals, a circumstance which greatly complicates the rulemaking process and challenges the expectations of due process for all parties that appear before you,” Jacus said in his comments to the AQCC.
The Colorado Chamber has a long history of involvement in air quality regulation and policy development in Colorado, and is committed to future, constructive involvement for its member companies. Learn more about the Chamber’s Energy and Environment Council and other policy councils here.
To read the full comments from John Jacus to the AQCC, please click here.