Each week, we talk with our colleagues at The Colorado Sun about the stories they're following. This time, editor David Krause joined us to discuss Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser’s lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency, plus a look back at 30 years with the Colorado Rockies.
There’s a holdup in gaining EPA approval for the state’s air quality improvement plan.
“Colorado has not been in compliance with clean air rules for more than a decade,” Krause told KUNC. “They (the EPA) said, ‘Hey, Colorado agencies and watchdogs can't really enforce the Clean Air Act unless there is more access—public access—to the polluters’ records.’”
The state’s current rules require companies holding an air pollution permit to keep records and make them available to the state upon request, but EPA officials say that's not enough.
“Until state regulators make it easier to find those records, the EPA says they won't fully approve Colorado's required plan on how it's going to attack the ozone and the other air pollution problems we've had for more than a decade,” Krause said.
The Colorado Sun also just finished a series looking at the Colorado Rockies and their general losing streak over the past 30 years.
“A lot of us at The Sun have been around Colorado for decades, and we've been to plenty of Rockies games,” Krause said. “Why do they continue to be so bad?”
The series examines that question, dissecting how the team has been managed, the history of Coors Field, and even how elevation differences could affect players’ performance. The series ends with a piece about the team’shighly-dedicatedfanbase.
Krause said the piety of longtime Rockies devotees might leave others scratching their heads. Why would anyone continue to support a team that loses so much?
“First and foremost, it's the love of the game and just being out at the ballpark,” Krause said. “The other part is that once we started seeing interleague play, right when the American League team started playing in National League parks and all that back in ‘96 or ‘97, that really changed the dynamic - we're not just seeing the same teams over and over.”
Despite consistently lackluster performance on the field, the Rockies still draw about 2 million fans every season.
