While a new era of river revitalization projects and riverside development plans is taking hold, water quality often remains below state standards. Some sections of the South Platte still stink. And despite a promise by former Denver Mayor Michael Hancock to make the river swimmable, city health officials still warn against going in the water — especially during the summer months.

“If you want to go swimming, go to a swimming pool — you’re much safer there,” said Jon Novick, the Denver Department of Public Health and Environment’s water quality program administrator.

The recent swell of attention on the South Platte — by developers, community leaders and city officials working to improve conditions — has highlighted the many environmental challenges still present.

Wastewater plants discharge effluent into the river, and companies such as Suncor Energy release a range of substances into the South Platte and the streams that flow into it. Among them: inorganic nitrogen, arsenic and the class of PFAS compounds known as “forever chemicals.”

Denver’s health department for decades has tracked a swath of contaminants as well as river conditions. The department monitors water temperature, acidity, nutrients and metals.

But the department’s biggest concern is E. coli bacteria, which can cause infections or sicken people if ingested, Novick said. E. coli can enter the water through animal or human waste. Denver’s aging infrastructure means that sometimes wastewater pipes leak sewage, which eventually reaches the river, he said. All of the city’s stormwater flushes to the South Platte.

The bacteria spreads faster in the warmer waters of summer, which is when people are most likely to want to take a dip. E. coli concentrations increase as the river flows downstream to the north.

In its most recent water quality report, published last October, the DDPHE ranked South Platte water quality as “fair” — above “marginal” and “poor,” but below “good.” E. coli levels exceeded the Colorado Water Quality Control Commission’s standard year-round in 2022. The river also exceeded standards for arsenic, which is naturally occurring in the bedrock under the city.

The river also suffers from the byproducts of the millions of people who live nearby. Anything on Denver’s streets and sidewalks not blown away or picked up eventually makes its way to the river: trash, lawn fertilizers, runoff from roads, pet waste, oil and grease from vehicles.

Part of the Mile High Flood District’s work is to help local governments better clean stormwater before it reaches the river.

The district — founded in the wake of Denver’s catastrophic 1965 flood — has tracked some positive trends in the river’s health. Nutrients like phosphorus and nitrogen have generally declined, said Holly Piza, the district’s research and development director. The nutrients from products like fertilizers can cause algae blooms and hurt aquatic ecosystems.

But other water quality issues are worsening, she said, including salinity — which hurts aquatic life and can damage infrastructure.

Attempts to mitigate the problem across Denver include a set of bioretention ponds outside the Carla Madison Recreation Center on Colfax Avenue. Those help retain water after rainfall and filter it through the dirt, instead of allowing all the water to flow immediately toward the river.

Novick and Piza urge Denverites to be more thoughtful: Don’t use fertilizers with phosphorus or nitrogen. Don’t litter. Wash your car at a car wash. Make sure sprinklers are watering grass, not pavement.

“There’s a ton the city is doing to improve water quality,” Novick said, “but we can’t be everywhere and we can’t do it all.”

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Nitrogen and ammonia, largely generated by heavy traffic along the Front Range and by agriculture in Larimer and Weld counties, are carried by air currents to the highest elevations of the treasured national park and deposited by rain and snow onto sensitive alpine tundra, where thin soil and delicate plants struggle to buffer the pollution.

If the contamination worsens, wildflowers could disappear and algae could bloom in alpine lakes, changing the waters’ look and endangering fish, scientists told The Denver Post.

“This issue gets worse as you go up in elevation as the sensitivity gets higher,” Jim Cheatham, an environmental protection specialist with the National Park Service’s air resource division, said during a recent meeting with Colorado’s Air Quality Control Commission.

Over time, the excess nitrogen — largely from vehicle exhaust — acts as a fertilizer to plants and changes the ecosystem, said Jill Baron, a research ecologist for the U.S. Geological Survey and senior research scientist at Colorado State University.

“You’re fertilizing Rocky Mountain National Park,” Baron said. “But you don’t really want to fertilize a national park.”

Baron, who has spent her career studying excess nitrogen’s effect on the park, said she has seen the beginnings of algae growing in mountain lakes because they are getting nutrients from increased nitrogen in the air.

“It’s a change from pristine conditions,” she said. “We are not at the bright green and stinky stage yet, but we are at the beginning.”

The point of creating national parks was to preserve pristine land across the United States, so scientists want to protect Rocky Mountain’s natural beauty and prevent as much human-caused change as possible, Cheatham said.

“The tundra is the primary resource the park was created to protect,” he said.

Over the years, state and federal air quality regulators have managed to reduce the amount of wet nitrogen — how the main pollutant is identified once it becomes trapped in rain or snow — that drifts into the park. But the amount of wet nitrogen falling in the park is 0.6 kilograms short of a 2022 goal of 2.2 kilograms per hectare per year, according to an Aug. 15 milestone report presented to the Air Quality Control Commission.

Ammonia pollution exceeds nitrogen

One component of wet nitrogen — nitrogen oxides — has been reduced since the project began nearly 20 years ago.

However, ammonia — which is also a form of nitrogen — has increased, according to the Rocky Mountain National Park Initiative’s 2022 Nitrogen Deposition Milestone Report. In fact, ammonia is now a bigger pollutant in the park, exceeding nitrogen deposits since 2013.

The push to clean the air in the Rocky Mountain National Park began in 2004 when the Environmental Defense Fund and Trout Unlimited petitioned the federal government for improvement. Over the years, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment have created plans to reduce air pollution that damages the park’s ecosystem.

This project is different than another effort to reduce the haze that is visible from Rocky Mountain National Park and other federally protected areas. That haze is created by severe ozone pollution in the region. And Rocky Mountain National Park isn’t the only Colorado park impacted by the haze.

Every five years, scientists from the National Park Service and the state health department present a report to the Air Quality Control Commission, which establishes rules to regulate air pollution in the state. The most recent report was presented in August, and the next one is due in 2029. The latest Rocky Mountain National Park Initiative report is open to public comment until Sept. 23.

In between reports, scientists monitor the park’s air quality and work with various partners, including the Colorado Livestock Association and Colorado Dairy Farmers, to figure out ways to reduce pollutants flowing into the park.

The bulk of the nitrogen pollution comes from the nitrogen oxides produced by burning fossil fuels through driving gasoline-powered cars and trucks, as well as oil and gas production.

Rocky Mountain suffers from the same severe ozone pollution seen in metro Denver and the northern Front Range, Cheatham said. So any attempts to improve air quality through emissions reductions in lower elevations will help the park.

Scientists have recorded a 15% reduction in nitrogen pollution in the past five years, Cheatham said.

However, ammonia pollution has increased, with the highest recorded levels occurring in 2021, according to the presentation given to the air commission.

That pollution is generated by agriculture, primarily in Weld and Larimer counties. Cattle waste, particularly from feed lots, contains ammonia and fertilizer poured onto crops contains nitrogen. Overall, the number of beef cattle in the region increased between 2018 and 2022, which was the period studied, and the number of dairy cattle reached maximum capacity in 2021, according to the latest report.

In the spring and fall when upslope weather patterns carry air from the south and southeast into the park, the ammonia from the cows is swept into the mountains, said Jeffrey Collett Jr., a CSU professor of atmospheric science.

“All of these things get pushed up the slope of the mountains,” Collett said. “As that happens, the air is expanding and cooling and you often form clouds, and that results in heavy precipitation.”

Agriculture in Larimer and Weld counties generates more than $2.5 billion annually for Colorado’s economy, according to an Aug. 15 presentation by Bonnie Laws of the Colorado Livestock Association.

Preserving “icons of pristine national beauty”

Beef producers and dairy farmers want to do their part in reducing emissions and protecting the national park, but it’s a tricky balance, Laws said during her presentation.

“Sometimes when you control air emissions you could end up creating a water quality problem or you could end up with practices that increase greenhouse gasses,” she said.

Farmers and ranchers try to reduce pollutants by being more efficient with food or fertilizer that contains nitrogen. The more difficult challenge is finding ways to minimize it on the back end.

One of the tools available is an early warning system for agriculture producers that notifies them when an upslope storm is in the forecast. The producers receive emails and text messages days ahead of the predicted storm so they can change how they manage their livestock.

For example, a feedlot manager could hold off on cleaning big manure piles, which kicks up ammonia, or change their pen cleaning schedules until the storm passes, Collett said.

Some are testing whether wetting a pen’s surface ahead of a storm reduces the amount of pollutants lifted into the air. Others are looking at whether changing the nitrogen and protein in animal feed would make a difference.

“There are people working on trying to test these different practices to find ways to reduce these ammonia emissions without impacting their ability to produce beef or milk or whatever their goal is in the operation,” Collett said.

Megan McCarthy, a senior air quality planner with the state health department, said the combined efforts are slowing the potential damage to the park and the various agencies and organizations involved are a one-of-a-kind effort in the country.

Baron, the ecologist, said there are some things, such as large-scale global warming, that cannot be controlled by people in Colorado. But efforts to reduce nitrogen oxides emissions statewide not only help the park but also people who suffer from respiratory ailments.

“Catching it early rather than waiting until it’s a crisis has been very helpful,” she said. “These parks are important to the American people as well as all over the world. The lakes themselves are icons of pristine national beauty. It’s one of the few places on Earth where things are protected.

“Those things are fixable if we have the social and political willpower to do so.”

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At the same time, parents whose children attend Dupont Elementary School are organizing to fight the construction of five additional storage tanks at the Magellan Pipeline Company’s terminal at 8160 Krameria St., which is across the street from the school in the Dupont neighborhood.

The additional tanks would increase the amount of volatile organic compounds, benzene and other hazardous chemicals emitted into the air.

And Cultivando, a nonprofit that focuses on community health and clean air in Commerce City and north Denver, is joining Adams 14 officials at 10 a.m. Saturday to rally resistance during an event at Adams City High School.

About 40 people gathered last week at the elementary school to learn about Magellan’s expansion plans, their environmental impact on the neighborhood and how parents and nearby residents might push back against the new storage tanks.

Parents and neighbors are concerned about how increased pollutants would impact people’s health, especially school children who play outside, and about more truck traffic in the neighborhood — another pollution source.

“Let’s do it! Vamos!” one father shouted as Wednesday night’s meeting concluded.

Magellan applied in the fall of 2023 to build the five additional gasoline storage tanks at the site. Twenty already are there, and those tanks store fuel delivered via a pipeline that is then trucked around Colorado to fuel vehicles. The company wants to expand, in part, to store reformulated gasoline, which is a special blend required from June to September along the Front Range to reduce ozone pollution.

But people in the neighborhood, including the school principal and residents who live next to the storage facility, were unaware of the project until The Denver Post reported on it in July.

School officials, environmental activists and neighbors are furious about the lack of communication from the company or from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment’s Air Pollution Control Division, which has the authority to approve, amend or deny the expansion application.

In their application to build the new tanks, Magellan officials wrote that they would notify the neighborhood of the plans by posting signs on the front gate. When Guadalupe Solis, Cultivando’s environmental justice programs director, mentioned the signs at the Wednesday meeting and asked the crowd whether anyone had seen them, multiple people scoffed and laughed.

“That’s what we thought. That’s why we are here,” Solis said. “They are doing this because we are people of color. We are immigrants, and they are sure we are not going to say anything, that we are going to be silent.”

Annelle Morrow, a spokeswoman for ONEOK, Magellan’s parent company, said the Dupont terminal expansion was in the works when the two companies merged in September 2023.

“Whether the proposed project is ultimately approved or denied, ONEOK intends to be a good neighbor to the school and surrounding community for years to come,” she said. “We have already reached out to the school district, and it is our genuine hope that — over time — we can demonstrate ONEOK’s commitment to engaging meaningfully with the communities in which we operate.”

Determining the environmental impacts

As part of its permit application, Magellan was required to submit an environmental justice impact analysis, to determine whether the work would take place in a disproportionately impacted community.

That analysis determined nearly 45% of the residents in the neighborhood surrounding the terminal qualify as low income, 79% are people of color, 31% are burdened by the cost of housing and 12% speak limited English. The environmental impact on the surrounding community is supposed to be taken into consideration by state regulators when they review the permit application.

The parents, school board and neighbors have an uphill battle.

Magellan filed for a construction permit, which doesn’t require the same level of scrutiny as other permits, and the Air Pollution Control Division already has given it preliminary approval.

Michael Ogletree, the division director, said his staff’s work is defined by the law and they must follow it when making decisions on permit applications.

“We must approve permits that comply with the law,” he said.

In the wake of the complaints over the permit’s secrecy, the Air Pollution Control Division extended the public comment period to 60 days, instead of the usual 30.

Ogletree also said the state health department plans to install air monitors near the school to detect emissions. He told The Post that plan was in the works before the newspaper published its July 22 story about the project, but people at the school and neighborhood residents said they had not heard about air monitors until they started complaining about the expansion project.

When asked about that discrepancy, a division spokeswoman, Leah Schleifer, sent an email to The Post saying Ogletree meant monitors were in place “in the area of the school district,” and he directed his staff to explore the possibility of adding monitors near the school.

Ogletree said his agency will listen to community feedback and offer support.

To that end, the health department is planning a community listening session from 6 to 8 p.m. Sept. 17 at Eagle Pointe Recreation Center in Commerce City. Schleifer said attendees must register in advance at bit.ly/APCDPublicSession. If not enough people sign up, the meeting will be moved to online-only, she said. She also noted that the meeting was not about any specific permit application.

“This is not fair”

Joe Salazar, chief legal counsel for Adams 14, said “the cake has been baked,” but he still believes there is a chance organized opposition could halt the permit. The school board voted unanimously last month to allow Salazar to fight the project on behalf of the district. He said it was unusual for a school board to take that step.

The Center for Biological Diversity will join the parents’ group, Cultivando and the school district in resisting the project, Salazar said.

“We’re up against it right now and we’re going to have to fight really hard to get the Air Pollution Control Division to change their minds,” he said.

Parents who attended last week’s meeting were worried about their children playing outside, but Dupont Elementary Principal Amanda Waller said she hoped to allow outdoor playtime as long as she feels it is safe.

“I pray we are not going to have to go that far,” Waller said. “It’s not fair to our kids.”

Waller broke down in tears as she talked about the gasoline storage expansion, saying she had been caught off guard when she learned about it. She also called it “a big deal” for the school.

“I just want you to know that I love and care for this community so much that this is really painful to me and I’m going to do everything I can to encourage all of us to join together because it’s about the kids,” she said. “This is not fair. This doesn’t happen in Cherry Creek.”

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New research has linked wildfire smoke exposure to higher rates of dementia, reproductive health issues and lung and heart disease, and forest service employees say the iconic, red fire retardant slurry dropped out of planes has been linked to thousands of fish kills.

“There are hundreds of gases that are emitted from wildfire smoke, some of them in very, very small quantities,” National Center for Atmospheric Research scientist Rebecca Hornbrook said. “Some — like carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxides — are emitted in higher quantities, but some of those smaller quantity gases are actually even more toxic.”

Short-term effects of wildfire smoke

“Everyone can be impacted by wildfire smoke,” said Colleen Reid, an associate professor at the University of Colorado Boulder who studies the health impacts of wildfire smoke. “…We see increases in health impacts within one day of high smoke exposure.”

Normal symptoms when smoke is heavy in the air include coughing, shortness of breath, headaches, tiredness, chest pain and itchy and watery eyes, Reid said. Emergency room visits and hospitalizations for respiratory problems also go up when smoke is active.

Mild symptoms often go away within a day or two of smoke clearing from the area, according to Reid.

In addition to smoke, wildfires also leave behind ash that can irritate the lungs, eyes, nose and skin, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

As residents clean up areas impacted by a wildfire, they should wear protective clothing and goggles and wash off any ash that gets on their skin, eyes or mouth as soon as possible, according to the CDC.

Researchers exploring long-term health impacts of smoke

“We know a lot about the short-term health impacts of wildfire smoke exposure, we know less about long-term effects,” Reid said.

According to Reid and David González — an assistant professor of environment health sciences at the University of California Berkeley who works with Colorado researchers to determine the long-term impacts of wildfire smoke exposure — recent studies have linked wildfire smoke exposure to increased cases of the flu, decreases in lung function, and higher rates of depression, anxiety and dementia.

The increase in influenza cases was first noticed after a bad wildfire season several years ago, and researchers believe that exposure to wildfire smoke may have made people’s lungs more susceptible to infection when exposed to the virus, Reid said.

According to González, wildfires also impact cardiovascular health — smoke can trigger heart attacks and strokes, worsen heart failure, cause abnormal heart rhythms or exacerbate pre-existing heart disease — and reproductive health — smoke increases the risk of birth defects, miscarriage and infertility in both men and women.

Reid said people can start seeing health impacts — both short-term and long-term — after just one day of high smoke exposure.

Sometimes, smoke from fires farther away can cause more significant health impacts on communities than fires nearby, according to a recent study from Colorado State University.

Researchers believe that’s more likely due to changes in behavior than the distance of the smoke itself, Reid said. People who see the fire or smell the smoke may be more likely to take proactive and protective measures than people farther away from the burn site.

While how far the smoke travels depends on the wind, weather and how high the smoke is in the atmosphere, researchers are seeing an increase in air pollution across the world, even in places where wildfires are uncommon or non-existent, González said. Smoke can be traveled to states or even countries away.

“If there is smoke, try to stay indoors with windows and doors closed,” Reid said. “Wear an N95 or KN95 mask when outdoors and try to time your outdoor activities to when the air is cleanest.”

Reid said people should use air cleaners in indoor places and frequently replace filters on air cleaners and air conditioning units — the smoke can clog up the filters and prevent them from helping.

“There’s so much more work to be done here,” González said. “This isn’t the end of the story.”

Health, environmental impacts of fire retardant

Wildfire retardants contain about 85% water, 10% ammonium phosphate fertilizer and 5% minor ingredients — including a colorant to help pilots see where the slurry has already been dropped — according to former U.S. Forest Service employee Andy Stahl.

“It’s bad for the environment when it’s dumped into water because the ammonium phosphate turns into ammonia and ammonia is highly toxic to fish,” Stahl said. The former U.S. Forest Service employee currently serves as the executive director of Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics. A single drop of fire retardant in a stream can be lethal to fish and other aquatic organisms.

Under “very specific conditions,” the fertilizer may poison animals that have eaten contaminated crops or drank water with retardant in it, according to the U.S. Forest Service.

However, as long as people aren’t standing under the retardant as it’s dropped, the mixture hasn’t shown any signs of long-term health impacts on humans, Stahl said.

The ammonia-based fire retardant will sting if it gets into cuts or scratches, or if it comes into contact with chapped or burned skin, according to the U.S. Forest Service. People should wash any skin that comes into contact with the slurry with water and soft soap, before using a hand cream to avoid dryness and cracking.

If retardant gets dropped on homes, residents should clean off the building as soon as possible, Boulder fire officials said. However, the retardant-covered homes should be safe to stay in until they can be cleaned.

In September, the ECMC has yet another opportunity to fulfill its obligation to protect Colorado’s communities. But yet again, it appears the interests of the oil and gas industry are being prioritized over the health of Colorado’s communities.

As members of Colorado’s Environmental Justice Action Task Force, we call on the ECMC and Gov. Jared Polis to strengthen these rules to hold oil and gas polluters accountable, stopping the rampant oil and gas pollution that takes place in Colorado’s disproportionately impacted communities.

We represent two of 22 Environmental Justice Action Task Force members appointed in 2021 and acted as co-chairs on the Environmental and Equity Cumulative Impact Analysis subcommittee. The task force worked with community members and state partners extensively for nearly a year, eventually developing a set of recommendations aimed at addressing environmental injustice in Colorado. The ECMC’s latest draft rules lack several essential provisions needed to shield disproportionately impacted communities from the harmful effects of oil and gas development.

We’re not the only task force urging the ECMC to strengthen these draft rules. Western Resource Advocates Building Decarbonization Manager Meera Fickling, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment Health Equity Commissioner Hilda Nucete, GreenLatinos Colorado State Director Ean Thomas Tafoya and Chair of the Sangre de Cristo Group of the Sierra Club Jamie Valdez, all support the opinions expressed in this piece.

The draft rules lack protections for neighborhoods near oil and gas operations, especially those already struggling with pollution and related health problems like asthma, cancer or autoimmune disorders. By failing to require oil and gas activities to take place at least 2,000 feet from disproportionately impacted communities and limiting public involvement in the permitting process, the state is prioritizing industry profits over people’s safety and well-being.

By failing to protect Colorado communities, a crucial part of ECMC’s mission, these draft rules perpetuate environmental racism as the many of the Colorado communities that are most impacted by oil and gas pollution are communities of color and low-income communities. According to Protégete’s Colorado Latino Climate Justice Policy Handbook, Colorado counties with high Latino populations contain a disproportionately high number of oil and gas wells and a disproportionately low number of air quality monitoring stations. These proposed rules ignore the spirit of environmental justice and are not in line with the final recommendations we made as members of the Environmental Justice Action Task Force.

Our final recommendations included that state agencies should use the definition of disproportionately impacted communities (DICs) explained in detail here. But the ECMC’s recent draft rules prioritize a different definition, labeled as cumulatively impacted communities (CICs), that excludes many areas historically burdened by oil and gas activities and almost all of Colorado’s Western Slope communities. The ECMC is not the only state agency using CICs. Several environmental organizations are involved in ongoing litigation with Colorado’s Air Quality Control Commission over the use of the CIC term, which encompasses only a fraction of the communities that are included in the DIC definition.

The ECMC should use the definition of DICs that were recommended by the task force and used by state lawmakers. This definition ensures that the communities most affected by environmental injustices are accurately identified and protected.

Additionally, the ECMC should strengthen its proposed draft rules in three ways:

• Close loopholes to ensure no new oil and gas operations are allowed within 2,000 feet of DICs, unless every  resident who lives within that radius gives informed consent

• Mandate air quality testing in a community before approving new oil and gas permits, and deny the permits if the oil and gas operations would push air pollution to unhealthy levels

• Set and enforce strict limits on ozone-causing, toxic air pollutants during the summer months, typically when air quality is the worst along Colorado’s Front Range

Everyone in Colorado deserves the right to live in a healthy and safe environment. Rather than eliminating oil and gas pollution, the latest draft rules by the ECMC provide concessions to oil and gas polluters and ignore community concerns. This is not acceptable. Governor Polis and the ECMC must protect and listen to the voices of the communities most affected by environmental racism, and hold oil and gas polluters accountable.

Renée Chacon is co-founder and executive director of Womxn from the Mountain and serves as the Ward III Councilmember on the Commerce City Council. Beatriz Soto is the director of Protégete at Conservation Colorado and co-chair of the Clean Water for All Colorado Coalition.

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Denver South works with local governments and businesses on economic development and transportation issues in communities along 8 miles of the Interstate 25 corridor in the south metro region. The area, which includes parts of Denver, Arapahoe and Douglas counties, Greenwood Village, Centennial and Lone Tree, has seen steady growth in the number of businesses and housing units in the last few years and expects more.

The area is also projected to see increased traffic, said David Worley, president and CEO of Denver South.

“What we project in the corridor is increased traffic of 15 to 30% in the coming years,” Worley said.

Growth is expected even as many employees continue to work from home for part of the week. Worley said traffic in the south-metro area is above pre-pandemic levels.

A Denver South study of the I-25 corridor forecasts traffic growing from the current daily average of 252,000 vehicles at about the I-225 exchange to 289,000 by 2050. Daily trips are expected to rise from the current 157,000 vehicles to 230,000 in 2050 in the vicinity of Ridgeway Parkway.

The traffic map in the study shows I-25 and Arapahoe Road in red, depicting congested/over-capacity conditions and other streets as congested and near their capacity by 2050.

Traffic at spots along I-25 is beyond the highway’s capacity now, said Daniel Hutton, Denver South’s vice president of transportation and mobility. He said the highway was engineered to handle roughly 200,000 vehicles a day.

The traffic volumes projected for 2050 assume people keep doing what they’re doing now, with few changes in how people commute, Hutton said.

“I-25 is a really significant corridor. A lot of people don’t realize that one-ninth of Colorado’s economy is really based in that 8 miles” in the south metro area, Worley said.

Denver South is encouraging businesses to apply for state tax credits as a means to reduce single-occupant vehicles, relieve congestion and reduce air pollution. The tax credit offers employers a 50% tax credit of up to $125,000 a year for money spent on encouraging workers to get out of their cars.

The maximum amount allowed for any one employee is $2,000 per tax year, according to the Colorado Department of Revenue.

Worley said employers could get tax credits for buying EcoPasses for employees. The Regional Transportation District pass allows for unlimited rides on buses and trains.

“It could be an e-bike program, van pool or a carpooling program designed by the employer,” Worley said. “You could put together an e-bike program with an EcoPass to get to and from work. There are a lot of creative things employers could do with this tax credit.”

Ridership on RTD buses and light rail in the south metro area is below pre-pandemic levels, Worley said. “It’s starting to come back a little, but we have a lot more capacity for light rail than ridership.”

At this point, participation in the tax-credit program is low, Worley said. “We’re struggling with people not being aware of this tax credit.”

The Department of Revenue is compiling the number of claims for credits. The 2023 tax year was the first year that Colorado businesses, nonprofits and others could claim the credit, spokesman Derek Kuhn said.

Legislation passed in 2022 created the Alternative Transportation Options Tax Credit, which was supposed to end this year.

“But we worked really diligently to try to get it extended. It’s now extended through 2027,” Worley said. “One of the reasons we’re working really hard to promote it is that the tax credits need to get used in order for it to stay on Colorado’s legislative landscape.”

Denver South hosted Josh Pens, director of tax policy with the Department of Revenue, Tuesday to talk to area employers about the incentive. The organization joined several metro-area business groups in 2021 to oppose rules that would have required large businesses to set goals to reduce the number of miles that employees drove to work.

The state Air Quality Control Commission planned to write rules for businesses to help implement a 2019 law that set goals for cutting greenhouse gas emissions by at least 26% by 2025; at least 50% by 2030; and at least 90% by 2050 from the levels that existed in 2005.

The rules would have targeted metro Denver and the northern Front Range, which is out of compliance with federal standards for ground-level ozone pollution. The pollution is prevalent on hot, sunny days when volatile organic compounds and nitrogen oxides from oil and gas operations, vehicle exhaust and fumes from industrial chemicals react in the sunlight.

Denver South, along with a broad coalition of businesses, strongly urged the Colorado Air Quality Control Commission to use voluntary measures instead, Worley said.

“While we supported the State’s efforts to improve air quality, protect public health, and mitigate climate change, we also recognized the business community’s constraints, limitations, and continuum of needs,” Worley said in a statement.

The rulemaking for the so-called Employee Trip Reduction Program didn’t happen. The Colorado Chamber of Commerce hailed the withdrawal of the proposal by the state Air Pollution Control Division. After taking input, the division said voluntary measures “can build a foundation for the future success” of the program.

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Given this trajectory, homeowners may feel they have to choose between a crispy brown lawn, a high water bill, or an ugly rock-scape that radiates heat and irks neighbors. There is another option. By replacing some or all turf grass with native and other water-wise plants appropriate for high desert conditions, homeowners can reduce water use while creating wildlife habitat and other productive uses.

I gradually began eliminating sod from my landscape more than a decade ago and replaced it with plants that require less water and are far more productive than turf grass. The turf-free property now supports 60 kinds of fruit- and vegetable-producing plants and twice as many ornamental shade-giving and flowering plants, including some two dozen native species. The yard draws butterflies, bumblebees, insect-eating birds like wrens and towhees, and hummingbirds.

There is nothing wrong with having some turf grass, and there are types that consume less water, but having none means none of the broken sprinkler heads, flooded basement incidents, repair costs, and frustrations my folks experienced when I was young. My drip system, which delivers water directly to the base of the plants, costs little to repair or rearrange myself. I don’t own a lawn mower, leaf blower, or edger, the use of which contributes to carbon emissions and ozone pollution. Although I spend less money keeping up my yard, I confess I do spend more time enjoying it.

Lawn reduction may seem daunting financially and technically for those who have not taken the plunge into water-wise landscaping. Fortunately there are financial and educational resources available. The state government helps fund local government and water utility programs that provide financial incentives for turf replacement. You can get paid to rip out a portion of your lawn.

Don’t know what to plant or where to plant it? The Denver Botanic Gardens, Denver Water and other city utilities, Front Range nonprofits like Resource Central, Wild Ones Front Range, Oasis West Wash Park, and others provide information on what to plant, where to buy it, and how to care for water-wise plants.

They say the best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The same could be said for planting water-wise plants in an increasingly hot and arid time. As the weather cools and the August rains come, it might be tempting to put off landscaping changes until next year. When Denver starts breaking new records in June, July, and August of next year, procrastination will become regret. Now is the time to plan to replace some of that crispy, brown sod with water-wise plants. Late summer and fall are great times to plant. Get to it.

Krista L. Kafer is a weekly Denver Post columnist. Follow her on X: @kristakafer.

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If Denver hits the forecasted 98-degree high, Saturday will tie for the hottest Aug. 17 of all time in the metro area, according to NWS records. Just one degree higher and Saturday’s heat will break the record.

The current 98-degree record was set in 2020.

The heat is expected to peak at 98 degrees around 4 p.m. Saturday before dropping down to 67 degrees overnight, NWS forecasters said.

Chances of afternoon thunderstorms in the metro area are small — close to 10% — and any rain showers that hit Denver are expected to wrap up by 9 p.m., according to NWS forecasters.

“Most will stay dry, but the mountains should see some scattered high-based showers in the evening,” forecasters said. “These will decay as they try to push into the urban corridor given the dry conditions, although they may produce gusty winds at times.”

With the increased heat, an Ozone Action Day Alert has been issued for Colorado’s Front Range — including Douglas, Jefferson, Denver, western Arapahoe, western Adams, Broomfield, Boulder, Larimer, and Weld counties — through at least 4 p.m. Saturday.

Ozone Action Days are called when the Air Quality Index is forecast to reach unhealthy levels due to a combination of ozone, wildfire smoke and other pollutants, according to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

Short-term exposure to unhealthy ozone levels can cause coughing; eye, nose and throat irritation; chest pain; difficulty breathing and asthma attacks, according to state officials. Long-term exposure has been linked to a variety of health issues, including lung and cardiovascular disease and premature death.

People in the affected counties should stay inside during the heat of the day, avoid driving gas- or diesel-powered cars until the alert is lifted and conserve energy by setting air conditioners to a higher temperature, air quality officials said.

Denver will cool off a bit Sunday — with temperature highs around 93 degrees — but 90-degree heat is expected to last throughout the week, according to NWS forecasters.

Stormy weather will return Sunday and Monday, but the rest of the week will be relatively dry with scattered afternoon showers, forecasters said.

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It would be the first time in nearly 50 years that Colorado would not be under federal oversight for carbon monoxide emissions that largely were caused by heavy rush hour traffic and cars made without catalytic converters. On Thursday the Colorado Air Quality Control Commission voted to remove federal oversight and repeal monitoring requirements. The Environmental Protection Agency must approve the plan.

“Colorado experienced high levels of carbon monoxide pollution in the 1970s and 1980s, and this milestone shows how far we’ve come in protecting and improving air quality for all Coloradans,” commission chairman Patrick Cummins said.

In the 1970s, Colorado Springs, Denver, Greeley, Longmont and Fort Collins were plagued by high carbon monoxide emissions, mostly from automobile exhaust. Throughout the decade the region exceeded federal standards for carbon monoxide more than 100 times with most of those violations happening during daily rush hours.

Those cities were placed under Environmental Protection Agency oversight to reduce carbon monoxide, an odorless, tasteless gas that can cause headaches, dizziness, nausea and chest pain, and can exacerbate pre-existing conditions such as heart diseases.

Colorado was able to reduce carbon monoxide in the air as more automakers installed catalytic converters in cars and trucks and by using gasoline that burned cleaner. The state also started requiring auto emissions inspections.

In 1999, the state hit the federal standard for carbon monoxide emissions but it was required to stay in compliance for 20 years. It is now 80% lower than the federal standard and has stayed that way, allowing the federal oversight to be relaxed.

But that doesn’t mean the Denver Metro area and northern Front Range are in the clear. Nor will it stop finding ways to reduce carbon monoxide pollution, which also is created by oil and gas production.

The region still is considered in severe violation of National Ambient Air Quality standards for ground-level ozone pollution and measures continue to be in place to reduce nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds — the two ingredients that form smog on hot summer days.

Still, commissioners found the success in reducing carbon monoxide encouraging.

“Hopefully, it will inspire us to tackle the outstanding challenges that we have,” Commissioner Elise Jones said. “We can see that it is possible to achieve them.”

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The extension comes amid criticism that regulators at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and executives at Magellan Pipeline Company did not communicate with people about plans to expand gasoline storage at the Dupont Terminal at 8160 Krameria St. in unincorporated Adams County.

The expansion would increase the amount of toxins released into the air in a community that already suffers a disproportional amount of pollution compared to the rest of the state.

The public comment period on the expansion at Magellan’s Dupont Terminal has been extended by 30 days until Sept. 16. That gives members of the public an extra month to challenge the state Air Pollution Control Division’s preliminary approval for the project.

The extension comes after The Denver Post reported in July that community members were angry that they were not aware of the proposed expansion near an elementary school and in the middle of a residential neighborhood.

Along with the extended public comment period, the state also plans to organize a community meeting about the project, although a date and location for it have not been determined, said Michael Ogletree, director of the Air Pollution Control Division.

“We want to be sensitive to the people in the community,” Ogletree said. “For us, it’s important to have those communities at the table.”

Ogletree invited people who are concerned about the project to speak Thursday during the public comment period at the Colorado Air Quality Control Commission‘s monthly meeting. People can register for public comment online at tinyurl.com/46se6tvy.

The commission, however, is not involved in the approval process of the permit and the project is not on the commission’s monthly agenda.

Jeremy Nichols, senior advocate for the Center for Biological Diversity, said the extension for public comment is unusual but necessary.

“It was welcome news,” Nichols said. “They kind of did it quietly. It just kind of showed up on the website and they didn’t really announce it. It’s unusual, but seems really called for in light of the circumstances.”

Magellan wants to add five more storage tanks at its Dupont Terminal, which sit across the street from Dupont Elementary School. Twenty storage tanks already are on the property where the company stores fuel delivered to Colorado via a pipeline.

Magellan says it needs to expand its terminal so it can store reformulated gasoline — a special blend required in the Front Range from June to September to reduce ozone pollution.

On its application for the expansion, Magellan said the additional five tanks would release up to 16.5 tons per year of volatile organic compounds, which combine with nitrogen oxides on hot summer days to form a smog that blankets the region.

The tanks also would release benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene — all chemicals that cause various human health problems such as breathing difficulty, eye and nose irritation and inflammation.

The permit already has received preliminary approval from the state’s Air Pollution Control Division.

Ogletree said the application meets all of the rules and regulations required under state and federal laws. The public comment period gives environmental groups and concerned citizens a chance to point out errors or challenge instances where they believe the law has not been properly applied.

Because the permit already received preliminary approval it will be difficult to stop the project, Nichols said.

“When we see a draft permit come out, that’s a red flag that things are moving forward,” he said. “It’s really hard to turn that around.”

Still, Nichols is pouring through the technical documents to find provisions that need improving. For example, he is critical of a section that would authorize Magellan to release tons of volatile organic compounds when the company needs to clean the tanks over two days.

The Air Pollution Control Division plans to install high-tech air monitors near the elementary school to determine which pollutants are in the air and at what volume, Ogletree said. He said those plans are being formed by a community outreach team and were in the works before the community raised questions about the project.

The Magellan storage site is located in a neighborhood that is disproportionately impacted by air pollution, meaning people there represent different ethnicities and socio-economic levels that are traditionally left out of decision-making on projects that affect their quality of life. They argue they bear a higher burden of pollution for oil and gas projects for the benefit of the entire state.

In Colorado, companies that want to apply for air-pollution permits in those communities must include environmental justice summaries in their applications. Magellan’s summary reported that nearly 45% of the residents qualify as low-income, 79% are people of color, 31% are burdened by the cost of housing and 12% speak limited English, according to the company’s permit application.

In its application for the expansion, Magellan officials wrote that the company would notify the community about its plans by placing signs on the front gate at the facility.

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