Published in the Boulder Daily Camera on August 1st, 2025

The Camera recently asked its Community Editorial Board for opinions on the Environmental Protection Agency’s intention to deny Colorado’s plan to shutter coal-fired power plants to reduce regional air pollution.

This prospective denial of Colorado’s plan is a giant step in the wrong direction.

Coal-fired power plants are one of the largest sources of health-harming air pollutants being emitted into the atmosphere. This includes the three “major” air pollutants — sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxide (NOx) and particulate matter (PM) — as well as mercury and other toxic heavy metals. Health-harming pollutants from burning fossil fuels are responsible for at least 3 million air pollution deaths per year worldwide. EPA’s denial doesn’t make sense in terms of health.

Further, the denial doesn’t make economic sense. Coal-fired electricity is far more expensive than solar or wind. Forbes reports on the 473 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity the world added last year: “The added capacity, roughly equivalent to 473 nuclear plants, produces electricity at prices most fossil plants can’t match and that the nuclear industry can only dream of.”

Finally, the denial doesn’t make moral sense. The International Court of Justice issued a unanimous opinion on July 23 that climate change is “an existential problem of planetary proportions that imperils all forms of life and the very health of our planet.” Failure to take appropriate action about fossil fuel production, consumption, exploration or the provision of subsidies may violate international law.  

But the EPA’s denial is fully in line with the direction of the Trump administration and its proposal to reverse the landmark Endangerment finding that planet-warming pollution from fossil fuels endangers human health. Under the previous administration, the EPA was doing its job to protect us. Under Trump, instead of protecting us, the EPA is actively trying to harm us.

Chris Hoffman, Boulder