On March 18, 2010, at the Air Quality Control Commission (AQCC) Hearing held in Greeley, Colorado … the AQCC decided to mandate emissions testing for the North Front Range beginning November 1, 2010.  It should be noted that the Commission members are from the Denver Metro Area, two from Boulder, with only one in Larimer County; and, all were appointed by the Governor.  So, it’s easy to see how they were able to simply mandate their political will upon the citizens of Larimer and Weld counties.

The only two major decisions the Commission needed to decide was:  1) Which regions of Larimer and Weld County to exclude from the boundaries; and, 2) What date after July 1, 2010 would be appropriate for implementation, which left this open enough that they could have put it out to 2013.  The Commission ruled that it did not have the authority to defer implementation of the program until 2013, although that ruling was based on an unnecessarily strict interpretation of the law.  And, their attempt at saying the ruling was based on scientific data rang hollow as absolutely no data was provided regarding the number of deaths or hospital admissions that would  be caused by ozone in the North Front Range. The members of the Air Quality Control Commission clearly has more loyalty to the EPA (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) and to blindly following bureaucratic procedures than desire to serve the citizens of Weld and Larimer County.

The meeting began at 9:00 in the morning with over 200 people in attendance.  Many citizens left prior to having an opportunity to provide public comment on the issue.  Nearly everyone had left in disgust after an agonizingly slow pace, until a vote was finally taken at about 9:15 p.m.

We would like to thank all the elected officials for attending, providing opposition comments, and supporting the opposition by the citizens of Larimer and Weld County:  State Senators, Kevin Lundberg (SD15), and Scott Renfroe (SD13); Larimer County Commissioner, Tom Donnelly; Weld County Commissioners, Sean Conway, Barbara Kirkmeyer, Doug Rademacher, and Bill Garcia; Weld County Attorney, Bruce Barker, Weld County Sheriff, John Cooke; Fort Lupton Mayor, Tommy Holton, and, members of the North Front Range Metropolitan Planning Organization (NFRMPO), Pierre DeMilt, Severance, Maria Secrest, Greeley and Debbie Lambert, Evans.  We also thank the many citizens who attended in opposition to mandatory emissions testing in the North Front Range (parts of Weld and Larimer Counties).

We are evaluating our options for further action to oppose emissions testing in the North Front Range.

Article in Greeley Tribune, March 19, 2010, Emissions testing on its way to populous parts of Weld