It took several hours to determine what percentage of the resulting data. Members of the task force In order to include it in the final report they would have to agree to a suggestion. This is a preview of the more contentious discussions to come. The 25-member task force includes nine members appointed by the governor, sixteen by the legislature, and two additional spots for representatives from tribal governments.
Ean Thomas Tafoya, Colorado state director for GreenLatinos, led one group to push for a simple majority, while others, like attorney Arthur Ortegon or Tyson Johnston (a vice president at Gunnison Energy, advocated for a higher level. Ortegon stated that requiring consensus by the group would indicate that the recommendations are taken more seriously. Tafoya suggested, however, that too high a threshold could eliminate valuable ideas.
He explained that democracy works in this way normally, and he advocated for a threshold at 51 percent. I believe that a longer list is a good thing. He noted that consensus would not be possible for front-line communities because many members of the taskforce are from the oil & gas industry.
The task force reached a compromise. Final recommendations will require a majority of two-thirds. However, if six or more members vote for any other recommendations, a minority report may be allowed.
We saw a lot less votes from industry officials and state government officials than community groups or individuals who wanted a lower threshold. Hila Nucete is a task force member who is the director for civic engagement for the task force. League of Conservation Voters.
Tafoya also agrees, pointing out that he worries that the minority reports will only include initiatives that members of the community want, but not those that industry and government representatives want. He points out that if it is called a minority report, and only minorities are responsible for it, it will be the same as it has always been.
Nucete claims that the threshold level was contentious as government officials fear bold change and prefer incremental steps. She says that many times they don’t want any changes to occur because the system works according to how it was created. It will also be difficult for individuals and communities to convince government officials to follow the environmental justice communities’ needs.
Nucete cites the push for stricter regulations regarding air permits as an example for when it could prove difficult to influence government officials or people in the oil and gas sector.
The task force is already very interested in permitting.
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Ean Thomas Tafoya was elected as co-chair of Environmental Justice Action Task Force.
The only public comments made before the meeting were about air permits, specifically the permit to fly. Xcels Cherokee power plant. Chandra Rosenthal, who is the Rocky Mountain office’s leader. Public employees for environmental responsibilityThe whistleblower group, which works with whistleblowers in order to expose illegal government actions, improve laws, and improve regulations, stated that the plant was last allowed in 2011. The state didn’t require modeling to determine compliance. Clean Air Act. At the time, employees sent Emails She argued that the plant is located near a disproportionately affected community in north Denver and modeling should be required. She told the task force and urged its members to recommend that Colorado Department of Health and Environment reopen this permit immediately.
Rosenthal expressed her concerns during public comment. Joel Minor, CDPHE’s manager of environmental justice program, addressed Rosenthal’s written comments. Minor said that nothing in the Environmental Justice Act gives the taskforce the authority to make recommendations to the Air Pollution Control Division or to intervene in a specific permit. Although the Environmental Justice Act does allow for the task force to make recommendations, it only discusses a single set in November 2022. It doesn’t address making any other interim recommendations.
Rosenthal does not believe that the task force cannot act quickly because of the lack of detail. The task force was formed to recommend and promote strategies to incorporate environmental justice and equity in the state agencies’ discharge of their responsibilities, she states. The legislature also included a provision that allows CDPHE to reopen air permits affecting communities that are disproportionately impacted.
Tafoya suggested that the Equity Analysis Subcommittee of the task force examine Cherokee’s request. The facility can be viewed from his mother’s yard. He was upset that the calls of employees for modeling were ignored.
Other people expressed concern that task force members representing communities most affected were being ignored during the public comment segment.
Jared Bynum (communities and justice advocate for Conservation Colorado), stated that I have noticed that task force staff members who are appointed by agencies tend to vote in line with those with industry backgrounds. This is a clear indication of the power imbalance which inspired the community members who supported HB-1266 to form the task force. … State agencies are more inclined to side with industrial polluters and oil and gas corporations than they are to prioritize the voices and representatives from disproportionately impacted communities.
Tafoya pointed out that while six people were elected from the disproportionately affected communities, there was agreement between more members on other questions. One of those was the election co-chairs to head the task force. Tafoya received fifteen votes, while Johnston came in second with Sheila Davis. Sheila Davis is a CDPHE representative who is an expert in health equity. This broke the tie between Johnston, Renee M. Chacon, or Michael Sapp who were also nominated as co-chairs.
Tafoya was a tireless worker for the Environmental Justice Act, and was recently named an a. River NetworkHero, who has traveled across the state listening to concerns from community members; he said he hopes he can lead by example.
Johnston was appointed to the taskforce by House Minority Leader Hugh McKean as a representative for the non-renewable oil industry, while Tafoya was named as a representative for an organization that implements initiatives related to environmental justice.
Johnston did not respond to a request for comment. Johnston mentioned his experiences as a child in rural Colorado, and his experience with racism, as reasons why he could empathize, despite being an oil and gas worker.
Nucete explains that it will be a challenge to find a co-chair who is both a member of the community or someone who has been fighting for environmental justice and also someone who works directly for oil & gas. Community members believed that the Environmental Justice Task Force would be led by individuals from the environmental justice communities. We will need to do a lot more work in building trust within the community.
Nucete serves on the Best Practices for Community Engagement Subcommittee. You can be overwhelmed by industry and government officials, as you can see from the votes. So one of my primary purposes in this committee or this task force is to be able to bring the voices community members into these spaces. The final vote will be very long, which is going to be a battle against industry.