{"id":451628,"date":"2026-02-06T02:00:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T02:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/451628\/"},"modified":"2026-02-06T02:00:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T02:00:11","slug":"colorados-air-pollution-permit-backlog-grows-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/451628\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorado’s air pollution permit backlog grows again"},"content":{"rendered":"

The backlog of overdue major air pollution permits at the Colorado Air Pollution Control Division has grown to 128, from 111 in 2022, despite tens of millions of dollars in state investment for expanded staff and new digital processing, records show.\u00a0<\/p>\n

State officials point to finishing a much larger number of permits each year during that time, and blame the bigger backlog on a flood of more than 100 new permit applications when Colorado was forced to permit many more sites as a consequence for ongoing violations of EPA ozone standards. They say the staff and processing expansion pushed by Gov. Jared Polis in 2022 shows 73 key Title V major polluter permits were finished in 2025, up from 13 in 2022.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Environmental watchdogs, though, say both the growing backlog and the accelerated individual permit reviews are missed opportunities for the state to actually cut deadly air pollution.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The division\u2019s updates on backlogs and processing \u201cjust seems to be about them trying to figure out how better to serve polluters,\u201d said Jeremy Nichols, who tracks the permitting system for the Center for Biological Diversity. \u201cAnd where is the public in this? Where are people? Where are people\u2019s concerns legitimately considered? There are no consequences for the delay on the renewals for the polluter. There are consequences for people who breathe air, who may be experiencing levels of air pollution that are not acceptable anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

State officials should be using their power in the permitting process to require more effective technology in flaring of pollutants at oil and gas production sites, and real-time monitoring with rapid consequences for violations, Nichols said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In 2022, Polis and the state health department asked the legislature for more than $40 million in new general fund spending to quickly beef up the air pollution division for greenhouse gas rules and new permit engineers, experts to model expected pollution, and other experts to monitor existing pollution.\u00a0<\/p>\n

State public health and environment director Jill Hunsaker Ryan said in an interview that years of staffing increases and training funded by the increase, alongside pending implementation of artificial intelligence-assisted permit writing, have greatly improved Colorado\u2019s process.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis administration has been trying to solve issues that go back decades, including permit backlogs, outdated technology, understaffing and underfunding. And we\u2019ve made significant progress in solving for some of these long term issues, but we haven\u2019t yet realized all of the potential of our investments,\u201d Ryan said. \u201cAnd while these investments have allowed us to catch up quite a bit and begin to tackle the permit backlog, we\u2019ve also experienced federal ozone downgrades.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AnAn oil and gas drilling rig at Chevron\u2019s Edmonson pad Feb. 7, 2024, in unincorporated Adams County. (Andy Colwell, Special to The Colorado Sun)<\/p>\n

The EPA downgrading the northern Front Range\u2019s health-harming ozone violations from \u201cserious\u201d to \u201csevere\u201d in 2022 \u201cresulted in over 100 new entities required to apply for a major permit, which is a good thing for air quality, but it puts additional pressure on our backlogs, because major air permits take a long time to write and get through the process,\u201d Ryan said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When the permit list blew up<\/p>\n

The EPA\u2019s downgrade consequences lowered the threshold of industrial uses requiring a permit to 25 tons of certain pollutants a year from 50 tons. Many of the new entities now requiring permits are oil and gas production pads, as exploration and production has increased in northeastern Colorado\u2019s Denver-Julesburg Basin, from Weld County to suburban Aurora.<\/p>\n

The air pollution division staff, Ryan noted, has also had to implement complex rules for each of 30 legislative bills on pollution passed from 2019 to 2025. On top of that, the Air Quality Control Commission and other state regulatory bodies have issued 80 rule revisions related to air quality standards in that time, Ryan said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIntegrating this level of new policies is again, good for air quality, but it takes time, and it adds a lot of complexity to the permitting process,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The air pollution division does not have to wait for a permit rewrite to tighten limits on pollution, said division director Michael Ogletree. Each time a new rule is finalized adding caps or monitoring for polluters, those new requirements apply across a wide array of emission sources, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Representatives from Colorado\u2019s oil and gas industry, which now produces the fourth-largest amount of petroleum among U.S. states, said they appreciate the state\u2019s effort to \u201cmodernize and streamline\u201d permitting.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cPermitting timelines at the Air Pollution Control Division have grown in proportion to the additional layers of regulation that contribute to Colorado being the sixth most regulated state in the nation,\u201d Colorado Oil and Gas Association President and CEO Lynn Granger said, in an email response to questions. \u201cThe growth in regulations and uncertainty around permitting timelines has been a drag on Colorado\u2019s economy as well as on efforts to reduce emissions in some cases. We are encouraged to see APCD\u2019s emphasis on improving the efficiency and accountability of the permitting process and are eager to partner with APCD on sustainable solutions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"An Amazon truck travels along I-270 crossing over E 60th Ave. in Commerce City on November 2, 2025 in Denver, Colorado. The Colorado Department of Transportation website describes the the purpose of the proposed I-270 Corridor Improvements project is to implement transportation solutions that modernize the I-270 corridor to accommodate existing and forecasted transportation demands. (Kathryn Scott, Special to The Colorado Sun)<\/p>\n

The Center for Biological Diversity, a national and Colorado environmental nonprofit that has successfully sued state officials over permitting delays, believes Colorado could wield more permitting power under the EPA\u2019s Clean Air Act Title V authority to demand far more from polluters.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be more costly for industry, and it would probably be more difficult for some companies to install these kinds of monitoring systems,\u201d Nichols acknowledged. \u201cI know the state doesn\u2019t want to be in the business of putting people out of business, but let\u2019s be clear, there needs to be losers when it comes to protecting clean air. If companies can\u2019t rise to the challenge of doing everything that is technologically feasible to control emissions and monitor emissions, I think it\u2019s appropriate for the state to say you can\u2019t do business in the nonattainment area. Or you can\u2019t do business next to somebody\u2019s house.\u201d<\/p>\n

Colorado\u2019s air pollution division has employed Boston Consulting Group to oversee the expansion and reformation of the permitting system, including incorporation of Salesforce and some AI-assisted efficiencies in permit writing. The division also created a new position, chief operational improvement officer, who will be \u201cleading the efforts to modernize permitting and improve how laboratory systems work \u2026 reducing backlogs, increasing transparency and making processes more efficient for both staff and the public,\u201d Ryan said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Improvements in the process are reflected in real gains on air pollution, division officials say. New regulations and better enforcement helped cut the amount of released nitrogen oxides, a key precursor to dangerous ozone, to 156 tons in 2023 from 276 tons in 2011. Similar progress was made in volatile organic compounds, another ozone and smog precursor partially attributable to oil and gas production.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Since the request in 2022 for a surge in state permitting assets, records and interviews show:<\/p>\n

Overdue Title V or \u201cmajor\u201d polluting permit applications went from 111 in November 2022 when The Sun first asked for an update to 115 in April 2023, to 128 overdue at the end of January.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The division received 115 extra Title V permit applications by November 2023 from the ozone reclassification to \u201csevere\u201d violations on the Front Range.<\/p>\n

Extra funding in 2022 gave the division resources to hire 30 new permitting staff. Since that year, the division has hired 28 new permit engineers and supervisors, both full-time state employees and contractors. Some of those new staff are still being trained on Colorado systems.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The number of completions of new or renewed Title V permits in each year has improved from 13 processed in calendar year 2022, to 39 in 2023, 38 in 2024, and 73 in 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nichols, the clean air advocate, questioned why the state is giving itself so much credit on process rather than talking more about strengthening standards for public health. He noted that in its December presentation to the commission, division staffers called new rules and lower thresholds for permits \u201cheadwinds.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe state definitely views it as just a paperwork exercise,\u201d Nichols said. \u201cPermitting could be used to do so much more for clean air and accountability.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Type of Story: News<\/p>\n

Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The backlog of overdue major air pollution permits at the Colorado Air Pollution Control Division has grown to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":451629,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[11455,91277,48194,211782,192,211783,79],"class_list":{"0":"post-451628","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-air-pollution","9":"tag-air-pollution-control-division","10":"tag-center-for-biological-diversity","11":"tag-colorado-oil-and-gas-association","12":"tag-environment","13":"tag-jill-hunsaker-ryan","14":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451628","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=451628"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451628\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/451629"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=451628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=451628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=451628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}