But a potential move would hurt attendance, organizers said, at what they call both the largest dragon boat event in the country and the largest Asian Americans and Pacific Islander event in the Rocky Mountain region. The nonprofit festival draws 150,000 to 200,000 people each July with its colorful races and cultural offerings.

“It would be devastating for us to have to move, because Sloan’s Lake is such the perfect location for it,” said festival executive director Sara Moore. “No matter what, Sloan’s Lake moving forward is going to need some help financially and support from the community.”

This year’s 25th annual event has already been punted from its regular July dates to Sept. 5-6 over health and safety concerns raised by Denver Parks & Recreation, which manages the park and issues permits for its use, and other organizations.

Those concerns include dead fish, increasingly warm and shallow water, blue algae blooms, and a lack of filtration from untreated runoff pouring into the 177-acre lake. In addition to the Dragon Boat Festival, the city has nixed other permits for events at Sloan’s Lake until early fall, said parks department spokeswoman Stephanie Figueroa.

But even with a multimillion-dollar cleanup project looming, the chances of using Sloan’s Lake for future Dragon Boat events look dim. The cleanup planning currently includes a $5 million funding request in the latest version of the proposed $950 million Vibrant Denver bond — down from an initial ask of $40 million.

The bond request received initial approval Monday from the Denver City Council, but more changes could be on the way before it can be put in front of voters this November.

Whatever the amount, the lake needs to be drained and dredged to increase depth and water quality, as well as adding filtration to the water that flows into the lake from various cities and districts, ranging from Lakewood and Wheat Ridge to unincorporated Jefferson County — all of which need to approve the project due to their individual rights to the water, said Kurt Weaver, executive director of the Sloan’s Lake Park Foundation.

“Even if we had all the money in the bank today, it would still be at least one-and-a-half to two years simply for permits and approvals,” Weaver said. “And we don’t have the money.”

Weaver has worked to connect stakeholders in the lake, such as the Sloan’s Lake Watershed Alliance, with visitors, caretakers and commercial and nonprofit users, he said. But while he’s busy identifying EPA and USDA loans, grants and other funding sources to shore up resources, he’s worried the calm surface of Sloan’s Lake conceals the depth of the crisis to most visitors.

As the third most-visited park in the city’s system (behind City Park and Washington Park), Denver Parks & Recreation does a great job of keeping the grass and other features tended, he said. But with an average depth of 3.5 feet, along with steadily rising sediment, the lake is actually in terrible health. So much so that the dragon boats may start scraping the bottom of Sloan’s Lake in the next couple of years.

“Certainly Dragon Boat is our largest customer, and having to move their dates this year was a contentious couple of months trying to figure out what that looks like,” Weaver said. “Nobody wants to be moved because they love their spot. But unfortunately, it’s not going to be their option here soon. If we don’t do something, they literally won’t be able to paddle around the lake.”

He said there are numerous reasons as to why moving the festival would be bad for Denver, including lost revenue from visitors who travel from all over the country to participate. Any town that nabs it would see a financial and cultural boost, he said.

“But when 5,000 fish turn up dead, people tend to notice,” he added, referring to the mass aquatic die-off last summer at Sloan’s Lake. In a single weekend in July 2024, that included at least 400 fish floating belly-up or washing up on shore, according to the city. Algae drains the lake of oxygen, and its shallowness prevents cold, safe pockets for marine life to shelter during high-temperature days in the summer.

“We’ve treated the lake in the past, but stormwater drainage keeps bringing more debris and sand,” Figueroa said. “You can imagine what that does after years and years.”

For her part, Dragon Boat Festival director Moore said she’s “actually getting a lot of positive feedback from people who are glad it’s going to September, because it’s going to be cooler.”

And while she’s looking forward to another banner year for the event, she has also begun searching for new locations — although she declined to provide specifics on where.

“It’s an impending doom that is coming faster than everybody thinks,” Weaver said about the lake. “There are 100 ways this thing is going to go poorly, so we have to start now.”

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We’d hired a guide, Liam, from The Next Eddy, 129 W. First St., to take us out for the morning, and Ben was a natural. He’d grown up fishing on lakes in Indiana and had been contemplating fly fishing since we moved to Colorado in the early 2000s.

Twenty-plus short years later, here we were, at the Arkansas Headwaters, a Hoosier and his plant-based wife, learning to flick impossibly long rods into some of the county’s premium Gold Medal waters.

If the Arkansas flows with extra swagger near Salida, that’s probably because the 100-mile stretch of river from Leadville to Cañon City claims premium, trout-rich waters teeming with stocked fish.

Still, I’d always been a Buena Vista gal, and while I’d driven past Salida countless times, I’d never stopped to explore the state’s largest historic district.

Buena Vista and Salida might be close, but they have different personalities.

Summer in Salida is something to celebrate–avoid the crowds over the Fourth of July and on Father’s Day weekend, when an insane whitewater boating festival, FIBArk, takes over the town during the Arkansas River runoff (June 12-15 this year).

Hammered out as a railroad depot town in 1880, Salida buzzes with outdoor enthusiasts, and yet it doesn’t typically draw the overwhelming number of tourists you’ll find in larger mountain communities.

Riverside Park, 170 E. Sackett Ave., is a downtown hub with great people-watching and easy water access.

You’re welcome to fish here in town; if you’d like solitude, wander a few hundred yards up or down.

Hiring a guide is highly recommended for those new to fly fishing.

The Next Eddy and ArkAnglers, 7500 U.S. 50, are Salida’s full-service fly shops. Both outfitters specialize in guided fly-fishing trips for all experience levels, including beginners like me.

Take note: Local rafting companies offer fishing excursions, too, but fly-fishing isn’t the primary focus.

While walk-ups can sometimes be accommodated at both, booking guided trips in advance is a good idea.

“We have a fairly lax cancellation policy,” The Next Eddy co-owner Sarah Medved assured me.

I can vouch for this policy since I had to rebook twice. Both outfitters prefer handling bookings over the phone to ensure each client is matched with the right trip. Call 719-530-3024 and 719-539-3474, respectively, to set something up.

Aside from a backpack with extra layers and water, you won’t need to bring much on a guided trip. “Come as if you’ll go hiking in Colorado for a day, and don’t forget waterproof socks,” Medved said.

After checking in at The Next Eddy and being fitted for waders and rods, Ben and I followed Liam past the Mt. Shavano Hatchery, 7725 County Road 154, to a quiet fishing hole. There, we spent the rest of the morning learning to use our gangly poles on a half-day walk-and-wade excursion that included four hours on the water.

More experienced anglers might consider a full-day high-alpine trip. But be warned: Eight hours on the water is intense, even for seasoned fishers.

Ben didn’t need much practice. A few minutes into the excursion, he raised his rod, and before I could say arbor knot, Liam, who’d been teaching me how to cast, was bounding toward his star student.

Since I wasn’t confident wading, I stayed put and watched from afar as a celebratory “fish-catch montage” unfolded to the soundtrack of burbling water. When you’re knee-deep in the Arkansas, all you hear is snowmelt galloping toward the Mississippi.

Amid the merrymaking–fist bumps; photo documentation—I continued casting. Despite Liam’s best efforts to teach me about drag-free drifts, my line had plans of its own.

Liam beamed with the pride of a new parent. “Rainbow trout,” he reported.

“Colorado’s state fish!” I said.

“No,” Liam corrected with a shake of his head. “That would be the Greenback cutthroat. Rainbow trout aren’t even native to Colorado.”

Really? A few hours later, when our four hours were up, I insisted on a quick fact-checking detour to the hatchery.

Anyone can pop in during operating hours, 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., to watch a short educational video and tour the facility. It’s a no-frills experience, to be sure, but if you’re traveling with kids, they’ll love tossing fish food into the long, rectangular tanks, watching trout ripple the water in a feeding frenzy.

Liam was right, of course: Rainbow trout might be one of Colorado’s most beloved fish–they’re stars in the state’s multibillion-dollar fishing industry—and yet, from a biological standpoint, they really don’t belong here.

In the late 1800s, nonnative trout–rainbows, browns, and brookies—were introduced throughout Colorado’s rivers and lakes during the metal and mining boom, for food and sport, often in areas that once provided habitat for native cutthroat populations.

“It was popular back then to stock the landscape and see what stuck,” said Colorado Parks and Wildlife aquatic biologist Alex Townsend.

I wanted Townsend to tell me that the trout live together in perfect harmony, but that’s not how the story goes. Over time, competition and interbreeding significantly diminished native fish numbers.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife is working hard to reintroduce native species like the Greenback cutthroat, which now occupy less than 2 percent of their original range. The organization doesn’t have the wherewithal to restore all the rivers to native fish, so it also focuses on preserving introduced species, including rainbow trout.

In the 1990s, a parasite, whirling disease, tore through fisheries across Colorado, nearly wiping out rainbow trout. Several years ago, thanks to state government intervention and a discovery that led to an innovative crossbreeding program, a unique strain, the Gunnison River rainbow trout, emerged as a disease-resistant fish.

Efforts to support native and nonnative fish populations are unfolding simultaneously. Maybe this is the message of hope I sought.

As for what you’re likely to catch in Salida, brown trout dominate. Higher up in the drainage, rainbow and brook trout appear more frequently.

Anglers interested in “unique opportunities,” as Townsend put it, can head to alpine lakes and springs to try netting golden trout and Arctic graylings.

I was parched, so I stopped at Mountain Phoenix Roastery, 112 W. Rainbow Blvd., just off U.S. 50. From there, I linked up with local artist and walking guru Jonathan Stalls, author of the 2022 title “WALK: Slow Down, Wake Up, and Connect at 1-3 Miles per Hour.”

Stalls was happy to point me to his favorite Salida footpaths, including the paved Rodeo Run Trail (sometimes referred to as the CR 120 Trail), a 3.3-mile route from Salida to Poncha Springs, and the Monarch Spur Trail, a 2.5-mile rail-trail, also paved, from the Arkansas River to Highway 50.

For a post-fishing hike with panoramic views of downtown, Stalls recommended crossing the Arkansas River on F Street and walking through the parking lot to reach the Arkansas Hills Trail System. Also known as the Tenderfoot Trails, this hiking area features an interconnected network of dirt singletrack.

“I’ll usually walk a route that combines the following trails: Lower Sand Dunes, Frontside, Backside, Little Rattler, Burn Pile, Dream On, Rise N Shine & Labyrinth,” Stalls told me. Hiking up to the “S” from here is also possible.

“When I’m looking for a more meditative walk,” Stalls added, “I take the Salida River Trail to Franz Lake. It’s a beautiful, calming gravel path moving from Marvin Park, through Sands Lake, under 291, and to/around Franz Lake,” he said.

Before parting ways, Stalls walked me around downtown Salida’s two main throughfares, F Street and Sackett Avenue. The town isn’t just charming: It’s the state’s largest historic district.

Today, many of the area’s 136 well-preserved historic buildings house craft coffee shops, boutiques, restaurants, and art galleries that trickle toward the water on side streets moving as effortlessly as individual tributaries.

For more local lore, visit the Salida Museum, 406 1/2 W. Rainbow Blvd., located directly behind the Salida Chamber of Commerce. It is open weekends only from noon to 4 p.m.

Salida is also a certified “Creative District.” Around town, you’ll find artisans of every genre, from blacksmiths and potters to fiber artists, muralists, graphic designers, photographers, and fine artists.

Galleries and studios stay open late on the first Friday of the month for First Friday Art Walks.

All the fresh air is bound to make you hungry. Locals rave about Boathouse Cantina, 228 N. F St., boathousesalida.com, a riverside American-Baja Mexican joint serving pizza, burgers, tacos, and much more.

Try Tres Litros Beer Company, 118 N. E St., and the newly opened Salida Distillery, 110 E. 15th St., for drinks.

If you need a grab-and-go option before getting on the water, try The FlaminGo, 10538 W. U.S. 50, a food truck in nearby Poncha Springs. The online reviews aren’t wrong: Sweetie’s Sandwich Shop, 129 W. Sackett Ave., is a solid choice for a quick lunch.

The Salida Hot Springs Aquatic Center, 410 W. Rainbow Blvd., is a family-friendly rec center in town.

If you want to unwind after an adventurous day, do yourself a favor and drive to Mount Princeton Hot Springs Resort, 15870 County Road 162 (Nathrop). This resort offers natural soaking pools and postcard-perfect views of the Collegiate Peaks.

Following County Road 162 for another 16 miles, you’ll reach St. Elmo Ghost Town. The former gold and silver mining camp provides an enjoyable glimpse into the past.

With so much to do, staycationers might consider staying a night or two. The recently renovated Manhattan Hotel, 228 N. F St., offers comfortable accommodations in the heart of downtown.

For an authentic Colorado experience, remember that the area is surrounded by BLM and Forest Service land, making dispersed camping abundant and easily accessible. You’ll also find plenty of vacation rentals with Victorian-era charm.

Catch a live performance at the Salida Rotary Amphitheatre in Riverside Park to close out a perfect day in Salida.

As the last notes fade into the cool night air and the Arkansas delivers its burbling lullaby, you start to feel that Salida isn’t merely a destination to visit but a special place to return whenever possible.

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It was the first time larvae from the destructive invasive species had been found in the river in Colorado. For nearly a year, despite increased sampling, state wildlife officials didn’t see any more evidence of the mussels.

But their hopes were dashed earlier this month when Colorado Parks and Wildlife detected three more tiny larvae in the stretch of the Colorado River between Glenwood Springs and Silt. The mussels — known to devastate ecosystems and clog critical infrastructure — had once again found their way to the river that is the backbone of Colorado and the Southwest’s water supply.

“We were all hoping against hope that it was an isolated incident,” said Tina Bergonzini, the general manager of the Grand Valley Water Users Association, based in Grand Junction, which manages a Mesa County irrigation system that relies on the Colorado River. “It is scary, from a water management standpoint, when you have something that could affect delivery and have ramifications for our entire community. It’s a scary thought.”

With the discovery of additional larvae this summer, the Colorado River from Glenwood Springs to the Utah border is now considered positive for zebra mussels. The river can shed that designation only once routine testing confirms a lack of zebra mussel larvae for five continuous years. CPW has beefed up its sampling and lab staff to catch any additional larvae — called veligers — quickly.

The invasive species destroys aquatic ecosystems, causes millions of dollars in damage to infrastructure like dams and irrigation pipes, and reproduces at an incredible rate.

Once established, experts said, zebra mussels are nearly impossible to eradicate.

David Strayer, a freshwater ecologist at the Cary Institute of Ecosystems Studies who has studied mussels for decades, said he didn’t know of an example where zebra mussels were eradicated from a river system once adult populations had established themselves.

“They have the potential to radically change the ecosystem,” he said.

The spread of mussels

The threat of zebra mussels has always lurked over Colorado’s borders.

The mussels — about the size of a fingernail once mature — are native to Eastern Europe and first appeared in the United States in the Great Lakes in the 1980s. The species has since established itself in all of the Great Lakes, in all large eastern river systems and in 33 states. Just 150 miles east of the Colorado state line, Kansas’ Cedar Bluff Reservoir has hosted a zebra mussel infestation since 2016.

Quagga mussels — an equally destructive relative of the zebra mussel — have established populations downstream on the Colorado River in the system’s two major reservoirs: Lakes Powell and Mead.

Mussels and their larvae spread in two ways: By floating downstream or when they are transported by people from an infected body of water on boats, boots and bouys.

Veligers are microscopic and a single quart of water can contain hundreds, Strayer said. Each year, a mature female mussel can release up to one million eggs.

Federal and state agencies for decades have fought to keep the mussels from the West’s waterways, but the species has been detected in California, Utah and Colorado. The species failed to establish itself in Utah but survived in California.

In Colorado, CPW has detected veligers in Grand Lake and in Pueblo Reservoir, but the species did not establish sustained populations.

The state’s first adult mussel was found in 2022 in Highline Lake, northwest of Grand Junction. In 2023, CPW treated the lake with a pesticide, but mussels were found again a few months later. In 2024, the agency drained the lake completely to kill off the mussels.

But just weeks after the lake was refilled this spring and despite strict decontamination protocols for visitors, samplers found more mussels — and, for the first time, they also found some in neighboring Mack Mesa Lake.

CPW officials have not yet decided what the next steps are for the two lakes, said Robert Walters, CPW’s invasive species program manager.

The discovery of additional veligers in the Colorado River has prompted CPW to bulk up its sampling and testing staff. The agency dedicated a team of three technicians based in Grand Junction to sample the river and doubled the size of its Aquatic Nuisance Species laboratory so that samples could be processed more quickly. It also dedicated staff members from its Denver office to sample the river all the way from the Granby Dam to the mouth of Glenwood Canyon.

The river is now being tested weekly, as are two of its tributaries, the Eagle and Roaring Fork rivers.

At any given time, CPW could dedicate up to 12 staff members to zebra mussel detection, Walters said. In 2024, CPW collected 275 samples from the river for testing. Since mid-April this year, CPW has already collected 279 samples.

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, too, is on high alert.

The federal agency owns irrigation canals in Mesa County and has increased testing in those systems, said Ethan Scott, the lands and recreation division manager from Reclamation’s Western Colorado Area Office.

“There’s definitely a concern that if they’re getting in our river, it won’t be hard for them to move to lakes and reservoirs from there,” he said.

Federal and state officials, as well as water managers and ecologists, are urging everyone who recreates or works in rivers and lakes to take steps to kill any mussel larvae that may be stuck on them or their equipment. They should drain, wash and dry all equipment and keep an eye out for adult mussels, which often have black and white stripes.

“If everyone is doing this, we have a pretty good chance of stopping this from spreading farther than it has,” Walters said.

‘Almost everything transformed’

Once established, zebra mussels filter huge quantities of plankton and other organic matter from the water — eliminating food sources for other species.

In New York’s Hudson River system, which Strayer studied, the invasive mussels filtered the river’s entire water supply every day, halved the amount of fish food available, shrank fish populations, reduced oxygen levels in the water, changed the river’s chemistry and decimated the native mussel population.

“Almost everything we measured about the river changed,” he said. “Almost everything transformed.”

Outside of mass ecological change, the mussels can wreak havoc on the valves, pumps and pipes that make up irrigation systems and dams. Adult mussels attach themselves to hard surfaces in incredible densities — up to 1,000 per square foot. They can constrict water flow in pipes and jam moving parts.

As general manager of the Grand Valley Water Users Association, Bergonzini is tasked with running an irrigation system that delivers water to 23,000 acres of land. That includes the Government Highline Canal, where CPW detected veligers last year.

Adult mussels could quickly and easily clog the irrigation system’s 150 miles of pipes as well as the smaller tubes farmers use to drip water directly on crops, like the region’s famed Palisade peaches. The pipes and tubes are meant to conserve water by replacing open ditches and reducing evaporation.

But they are an Achilles’ heel in a mussels infestation, Bergonzini said.

Adult mussels could also clog the association’s fish screen, which keeps fish — including endangered species — from getting trapped in the system’s canals, instead returning them to the river.

The association paid $80,000 to treat the entire system with an ionized copper solution at the end of the last irrigation season and will likely do so again, Bergonzini said

“It’s something that we’re going to have to work with our water users to raise the money for,” she said. “And that’s just for the prevention — it’ll be even more if we end up having adult populations and have to mitigate throughout the year.”

Similar treatment is not possible in the Colorado River itself. There’s just too much water, said Strayer, the ecologist.

“You would need a line of rail cars to dump the substance in the river,” he said.

Bergonzini urged Coloradans and visitors to be vigilant when they work or play in the state’s waters.

“There’s a mindset that they’re already here, but that’s incredibly short-sighted,” she said. “We all need to look at the communities and recreation we have — and realize that all of that could be affected by people’s unwillingness to help stop the spread of this invasive species.”

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Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen and state Attorney General Mike Hilgers held a news conference Wednesday to announce the lawsuit, which was filed with the U.S. Supreme Court.

“It’s crystal clear. Colorado has been holding water back from Nebraska for almost 100 years and getting more and more egregious every single day,” Pillen said, pointing to Colorado’s rapidly expanding population over the past decade.

“So today it’s really, really simple: We’re here to put our gloves on,” Pillen said. “We’re going to fight like heck. We’re going to get every drop of water.”

Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser called the lawsuit “unfortunate” in a written statement and said Nebraska officials failed “to look for reasonable solutions.” Gov. Jared Polis said the lawsuit was a needless escalation by Nebraska.

“Colorado has always been in compliance with the South Platte Compact and other applicable agreements. We have also continued to meet in good faith with Nebraska, despite its attempts to intimidate Colorado landowners and damage our agricultural communities,” Polis said in a statment.

The lawsuit accuses Colorado of depriving Nebraska of as much as 1.3 million acre-feet (about 160,350 hectare-meters) of water from the river over several years that Nebraska is entitled to under a 1923 compact between the states.

The suit also accuses Colorado officials of blocking Nebraska’s effort to construct a massive canal — often called the Perkins County Canal — and reservoir project that would see Nebraska seize land in Colorado to divert water into Nebraska, which is also allowed under the compact.

Nebraska needs the water not only for agriculture production in its southwestern region — which climate experts predict will grow hotter and drier in the coming decades — but also to feed water supplies in the eastern part of the state, officials said. Nebraska’s capital, Lincoln, is expected to get 12% of its water from the proposed canal, Pillen said.

The compact entitles Nebraska to 120 cubic feet (3.4 cubic meters) per second from the river during the irrigation season between April 1 and Oct. 15 each year, and 500 cubic feet (about 14 cubic meters) per second during the non-irrigation fall and winter months.

Hilgers said Colorado has been shortchanging Nebraska during the irrigation season, allowing only about 75 cubic feet (about 2 cubic meters) per second of water daily into Nebraska this summer.

“I think this may be the most consequential lawsuit that this office will be a part of in my generation,” Hilgers said. “It is almost impossible to overstate the importance of the South Platte River to the future of the state of Nebraska.”

The South Platte, which flows through northeastern Colorado into southwestern Nebraska, has been at the center of a tempest brewing between the two states going back to 2022, when Nebraska announced it would build the canal.

Since then, officials from the two states have been haggling over how to carry out both the terms of the compact and land acquisition to build the canal.

“It became clear, despite the very professional and intentional scope of those negotiations, that we were at an impasse,” Hilgers said.

Weiser countered that Nebraska officials should have remained at the negotiating table.

“Nebraska’s actions will force Colorado water users to build additional new projects to lessen the impact of the proposed Perkins County Canal,” he said. “When the dust finally settles, likely over a billion dollars will have been spent — tens of millions of that on litigation alone — and no one in Nebraska or Colorado will be better off.”

Hilgers said the lawsuit was filed directly with the Supreme Court because it handles disputes between states. The process “isn’t fast,” Hilgers warned.

“We’ll probably have a special master appointed within the next 12 months, and under normal litigation timelines, that’s maybe 3 to 5 years before we get a result,” he said.

That does not mean work on the canal will stop, he said, as he expects work on permitting and design of the canal to continue.

Nebraska has been at the center of interstate water disputes for decades. In 2002, Nebraska, Colorado and Kansas reached a settlement over Republican River water allocation after years of legal wrangling. But disputes continued, and new agreements were reached among the states again in 2014.

Water disputes could become more common as climate change worsens shortages, said Dr. Carly Phillips, a research scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists — a nonprofit that advocates for climate change solutions.

Warmer temperatures affect multiple parts of the hydrological cycle, Phillips said. It is decreasing the snowpack, which is the main way water is stored in the western U.S. Higher temperatures also mean the snow melts earlier each year, changing the availability of stream flow. And states like Nebraska might see increased irrigation demand when it’s hotter.

“These patterns are all in the same direction across the board,” Phillips said. “The trends are really consistent when it comes to snowpack, stream flow, evaporation and irrigation demand.”

____

Associated Press reporter Sarah Raza contributed from Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

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Denver District Judge Jill Deborah Dorancy gave CBZ and its constellation of associated companies until July 28 to comply with several investigative subpoenas from the Colorado Attorney General’s Office that were issued nearly a year ago.

Dorancy wrote that CBZ and its other companies had sought to prevent the state’s “lawful investigation” into whether the landlord violated safe-housing and consumer-protection laws.

Attorney General Phil Weiser’s office sent CBZ and its constituent companies several subpoenas in September as investigators probed the chronically unsafe conditions of the companies’ properties, as well as allegations from tenants that CBZ had engaged in insurance fraud and deceptive practices. The subpoenas seek information about the properties’ ownership, how CBZ advertises its rentals, and how it tracks and responds to maintenance requests, among several other demands for records.

After receiving the subpoenas in September, CBZ’s lawyers first sought several exemptions to delay producing the records, which were granted by the AG, according to court filings. The delays continued into December, when CBZ sued and asked a judge to block the subpoenas; the companies argued the requests were too burdensome and broad.

Weiser’s office then filed its own lawsuit, asking a judge to order CBZ to turn over the records. Dorancy’s rulings ended both cases.

A year ago, CBZ operated 11 apartment buildings in Denver, Aurora, Colorado Springs, Pueblo and Edgewater. The company became nationally infamous in August, when a video showing armed men in one of its Aurora apartment buildings went viral and became a part of the 2024 presidential election.

As Aurora officials moved to shut down one of CBZ’s properties because of its unsafe conditions, CBZ and its owner, the New York-based Shmaryahu Baumgarten, claimed that an influx of Venezuelan gang members had seized CBZ properties and caused their collapse.

The Denver Post reported last year that gangs had infiltrated CBZ’s Aurora properties and that the company had previously and consistently refused to fix a laundry list of unsafe conditions at those buildings dating back years. Similar conditions — including roach infestations, collapsing infrastructure and absent heat and hot water — have also been reported at CBZ’s three Denver properties, though the company has claimed no gang infiltration there.

An email sent to CBZ’s lawyers was not returned Tuesday.

In a statement, Weiser said the subpoenas “are not a suggestion” and that his office will follow the investigation “where the evidence leads.”

“CBZ’s refusal to comply with duly issued subpoenas, despite repeated extensions and accommodations, is unjustified and obstructs a lawful investigation into potential violations of state law,” Weiser wrote. “Companies that stonewall the AG’s office will be held accountable.”

The ruling is the latest legal setback for CBZ and its collapsing rental footprint in Colorado. The company is facing legal action in both Aurora and Denver for failing to maintain its properties, and judges in both cities have issued arrest warrants for Zev Baumgarten, one of CBZ’s managers and Shmaryahu Baumgarten’s brother, for failing to turn up for his court dates.

Unpaid creditors and Aurora officials have closed CBZ’s three Aurora properties, while Denver officials shuttered another building there because it was unsafe.

The company’s attempt to claim that it’s been unfairly targeted because its owners are Jewish was dismissed by an Aurora judge earlier this month because the company presented no evidence to support the allegation, according to Westword.

One of CBZ’s constituent companies is also awaiting a trial in Aurora related to the closure of the Edge of Lowry property, where the video of the armed gang members was taken. That trial was supposed to start this month, but has now been delayed until November.

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As Indigenous Peoples we have always connected to the power of these healing waters, that we hold sacred, with pools documented long before contact.

In the Shoshone language, they are called: bah guewana, smoking waters; in the Arapaho language: xonou’o, where the healing water turns into air, unifying with the ecosystem; and in the Cheyenne language: tsexhoeomotometo mahpe, where the breath of life comes out of the water.

In a reckless move risking local, regional and statewide economic and legal certainty, the state has been asserting unilateral decision-making power regarding the Hot Springs State Park in Thermopolis, trying to build on the illegal attempts of dispossession of our peoples, while currently pushing for major changes to the park.

We fear these plans will turn our sacred springs into a playground for the rich, inaccessible to the many tribal members who hold these waters sacred.

As Indigenous Peoples we are afraid this will result in the desecration and further commercialization of our sacred Hot Springs. All this has been and continues to be done without the consent of our peoples and revenue-sharing, both required to recognize us as decision-makers, including regarding current attempts to hand over facilities to an out-of-state operator and large infrastructure investments that stand to change our sacred Hot Springs forever.

As Indigenous Peoples we have to be recognized as decision makers regarding these sacred hot springs to protect them for all future generations and to ensure free access for our people to enable healing from intergenerational effects of genocide, which is more important now than ever.

Both massacres of Native Americans and policies, such as the federal boarding school system that forcibly removed Indigenous children from their families, meet the international definition of genocide under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

The intergenerational healing provided by our sacred hot springs has to be recognized. Our Arapaho and Cheyenne ancestors went directly there to heal after the Sand Creek Massacre in 1864, all the way through our homelands, from South Eastern Colorado, along the Eastern frontal range of the Rocky Mountains, to the heart of Wyoming, all promised in the Treaties of Fort Laramie.

These sacred hot springs were included in the original Wind River Reservation, created long before the state of Wyoming, and today it sits at its center as the sole reservation in the state. The inclusion of the hot springs in the original reservation constitutes evidence of the importance of these healing waters to us, with Owl Creek marking the boundary to the North.

The old town of Thermopolis was located 10 miles away, outside the original reservation. Wyoming History has documented that the darkest times that followed — with disease decimating our populations by more than half and hunger reigning because the buffalo had been eradicated — settlers started to push into the reservation, especially the hot springs area.

The pressure on our tribes was tremendous; we were within 2 years of running out of rations, when the federal government sent their negotiator James McLaughlin to try to force the surrender of the hot springs for an offer of initially $50,000 and then $60,000 and rations. According to Geoffrey O’Gara’s book “What You See in Clear Water,”  another Indian agent called the offer “abundantly low for the finest hot spring on Earth.”

In light of the duress our tribes were under any agreement in itself is on questionable legal ground; what makes it even more legally questionable is that the vast majority of the payments were never made, meaning that the transfer has never been properly effected.

Even then, if anything, the relationship has been between the federal government and our sovereign tribes around the sacred hot springs, putting them in the same category as Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons. Access to these and all other national parks is free for all tribal members and the same should be implemented for this park and all pools in it as places of intergenerational healing.

It makes it even more questionable how the state of Wyoming ever imposed itself on the area, not just the one square mile that they claim as Hot Springs State Park, but the 10 miles by 10 miles that they illegally claim as removed from the reservation, which covers the current town of Thermopolis and beyond.

It is imperative for the state to recognize our peoples and tribes as decision-makers regarding these sacred hot springs and lands. There are an increasing number of examples of co-management of parks with Indigenous Peoples, which the Hot Springs State Park is a prime candidate for to implement joint decision making, one of the longest standing examples being Gwaii Haanas National Park which is co-managed with the Haida People and has now been extended to the whole island chain.

What the state otherwise risks is great economic and legal uncertainty for the local community and the whole state. To put the value of the land into context, Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon in late December 2024 approved the sale of one square mile of undeveloped land to the federal government so it could be added to the Grand Teton National Park, for $100 million. We are talking about 100 square miles of developed land and the finest hot springs on Earth and outstanding liabilities for 130 years.

In addition to the failure to recognize our larger proprietary interests, this does not meet the standards of consultation with tribes necessary under U.S. law, and the requirement of free prior and informed consent of Indigenous Peoples under international law, including the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples that the United States have committed to implementing.

As Indigenous Peoples we not only have the strongest connection to these sacred waters and lands, we also hold the most long-term knowledge that is key to ensuring their protection and sustainable use; of central importance has to be unlimited free access to these sacred waters for our Peoples to support the healing from intergenerational effects of genocide.

William C’Hair is a Northern Arapaho leader and knowledge keeper. Wes Martel is an Eastern Shoshone leader and knowledge keeper, and Phillip Whiteman Jr. is a Northern Cheyenne traditional chief and knowledge keeper.

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The bill, ushered through Congress by Republican leadership and signed by Trump Friday, includes $4.5 trillion in tax cuts, slashes spending on Medicaid, and creates temporary tax deductions for overtime and tipped income. It includes $170 billion for immigrant detention and for new personnel for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Planned Parenthood faces a prohibition on receiving Medicaid payments for a year. New parents can set up a new type of children’s savings account. The federal government will dramatically roll back clean energy tax credits — including those that help people buy electric vehicles — while expanding another credit for a certain kind of coal.

The tax breaks will translate to savings for most earners, with the largest benefits skewing toward the wealthiest residents.

The bill makes tax reductions passed during Trump’s first term permanent. But tens of thousands of people are at risk of losing Medicaid and food assistance in the next few years.

How Colorado’s members of Congress voted on the Trump tax bill — and what they’re saying

For Colorado, the bill means drastic changes to state finances that may require lawmakers to return to the Capitol in the coming months to deal with the fallout. State revenue is projected to fall by as much as $800 million by the end of its 2025 fiscal year.

"It’s going to be really hard," Sen. Judy Amabile, a Boulder Democrat who sits on the legislature's Joint Budget Committee, said of the task facing policymakers. "We are going to have to come together and figure out what (to do). An $800 million cut to our revenue is enormous."

Here's a look at how the tax bill will impact Colorado in different ways.

For taxpayers

The bill institutes a variety of tax cuts. Some are permanent, while others are temporary.

On the permanent side, the bill enshrines current tax rates and brackets that were rejiggered under the first Trump administration, preventing an increase at year's end when those cuts were set to expire. It includes scores of business-related tax cuts, including allowing businesses to immediately write off 100% of the cost of equipment and research.

As for temporary reductions: The bill creates new tax deductions for tips, overtime and auto loans for the next four years. Workers can deduct up to $25,000 in tipped income on their taxes; up to $12,500 in overtime income; and $10,000 on loan interest for cars assembled in the United States, according to Fidelity.

For Colorado state tax purposes, the overtime provision applies only for the current tax year, Gov. Jared Polis' office said. Earlier this year, the legislature passed a law requiring the state to continue taxing that income, should the federal government shift gears, but it takes effect for the 2026 tax year.

The federal bill also creates a temporary $6,000 deduction each year for people 65 and older. That will also expire by tax year 2028.

For families, the bill increases the child tax credit from $2,000 to $2,200 for most taxpayers, and the bill creates a new children’s savings program, called Trump Accounts, with a potential $1,000 deposit from the Treasury.

In Colorado, taxpayers would get total tax cuts of more than $10.5 billion next year, according to estimates from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Those making between $59,700 and $103,000 a year would save about $1,760 in 2026 from the tax provisions of the bill.

According to the University of Pennsylvania, the lowest-earning American households would lose about $885 a year by 2030, largely because of cuts to Medicaid and food assistance. The top 10% of earners are set to receive roughly 80% of the bill's benefits, the school estimated, while noting those earners pay about 70% of federal taxes.

For state revenue

The tax bill doesn't just cut revenue for the federal government. Its passage means less money for the state, too.

For the remainder of this fiscal year, which began July 1, Colorado officials are projecting a loss of between $500 million and $800 million, Polis' office said Tuesday, and hundreds of millions of dollars each year after. Lawmakers already made $1.2 billion in cuts earlier this year to balance the current budget.

The changes to overtime taxation account for as much as $250 million in lost revenue projected this year for state income taxes. The other big slice comes from changes to business tax credits, particularly related to depreciation, Polis' office said.

The bill will also shift new costs onto the state, and those will soon strain the budget from the other direction. The new costs include implementing Medicaid work and eligibility requirements and an increased expense to the state for overseeing food assistance. Those changes go into effect in the coming years -- some of them after the 2026 midterm elections -- so they won't have an immediate impact.

But all told, they'll likely require more than $200 million in new, annual spending from the state.

As for this year, the longer the state waits to sort out this latest financial gap, the governor's office said, the harder it will be to fill. Since Colorado's fiscal year just started, each day means there is less money to cut or room to maneuver to make up for lost revenue.

That, in turn, raises the specter of yet another special legislative session that would be the third in three years, ahead of the next regular convening in January. The governor's office said Polis is still evaluating the bill's impacts.

Amabile said she was bracing for a special session -- and for the "painful" decisions it will bring.

"What scares me is that we are going to have to make some cuts," she said. "And the best way to make the cuts is to come together and decide what is it -- what are our priorities? What are the most important things? And what are the most efficient ways to achieve the things that we all agree need to be protected?

"What I already see happening is silos (of organizations and causes) starting, to want to protect their thing, without any other context."

For Medicaid

The tax bill includes more than $1 trillion in cuts to planned Medicaid spending through 2034 at the national level. Most Medicaid changes won’t take effect for more than a year, but the state may have to increase its spending before then to prepare.

Federal spending on Medicaid in Colorado will likely drop somewhere between $11 billion and $18 billion over 10 years, according to KFF, formerly known as the Kaiser Family Foundation, which is a nonprofit that studies the health system. The state, which shares Medicaid costs with the federal government, hasn’t yet projected how its own spending will change. In the state's last fiscal year, total spending on Medicaid was about $15 billion, including federal contributions.

In some cases, such as when people no longer qualify for Medicaid, the state will spend less. In others, Colorado will have to decide whether to make up the lost federal dollars or make cuts to either services for recipients -- who include about one in four Coloradans -- or payments to providers.

Starting in January 2027, the state will have to verify that about 377,000 people in the Medicaid expansion population under the Affordable Care Act -- adults earning up to 138% of the poverty line, who don’t qualify for Medicaid for another reason -- either meet new work requirements or qualify for an exemption. That will put significantly more work on the state and on counties.

Many able-bodied recipients between ages 19 and 64 will have to show they worked, attended school or volunteered for 80 hours per month. Colorado will have to build infrastructure for people to report that information and to monitor their compliance.

In addition, recipients will have to go through the full eligibility process twice a year, instead of once. Colorado can complete that process automatically about three-quarters of the time, but when it can’t, recipients will have to fill out a 16-page packet to keep their coverage.

KFF estimated that 150,000 people in Colorado would become uninsured if the bill passed, and an additional 40,000 would lose coverage if enhanced ACA subsidies in insurance exchanges expire this year, as scheduled. It made those calculations before the Senate amended the bill, increasing the Medicaid cuts, so the projections are likely higher now.

21,000 undocumented Coloradans could lose Medicaid coverage under Trump tax bill

A clearer loss for the state budget is set to come in 2027. That's when the federal government will start reducing how much states can tax health care providers, such as hospitals. Colorado currently charges the maximum provider tax rate of 6%, but the threshold will drop by 0.5% per year, until it reaches 3.5%.

States use the money they collect from providers to claim federal matching funds, so reducing the tax has wider implications. The Colorado Hospital Association estimated the state could lose about $10 billion over 10 years, leaving less money available to compensate facilities that treat larger numbers of poor patients. The state also uses the money to pay its 10% share of costs to cover the Medicaid expansion population (those earning up to 138% of the poverty line).

For food assistance

The tax bill will slash food assistance -- the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP -- by $186 billion through 2034, according to the Congressional Budget Office. That's the biggest cut to the program since it began in 1939. It will do that by instituting new work requirements and by shifting new costs onto Colorado and other states.

Roughly 617,000 Coloradans, or more than 10% of the state's population, receive food assistance each month.

The program provides money for low-income people to buy food. In Colorado, a family of four with a maximum income of $62,400 a year qualifies. The benefits can be spent on a variety of foods but not alcohol, hot foods or other household items.

The bill will require the state to pay for more of SNAP's administrative costs -- about $50 million in new spending annually. It will also require Colorado and other states to start paying for some of the program's cost, depending on the scale of each state's error rate. In Colorado, that would mean as much as $140 million a year, according to the state Department of Human Services.

All of that translates to more Coloradans losing food assistance. According to the left-leaning Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, 55,000 Coloradans are at risk of losing SNAP benefits because of new work requirements that expand on existing work rules in the program.

For climate and energy

When it comes to the environment and natural resources, the bill rescinds a vast swath of Biden-era investments in clean energy, ends tax credits for consumers who buy climate-friendly products, and undoes regulations and fees on oil and gas production. It also rescinds $267 million in Inflation Reduction Act money that's used to supplement National Park Service staffing.

The cuts reflect stark opposition from the majority of Republicans to many government efforts to address climate change.

The policy package will raise electricity costs for consumers, said Will Toor, the executive director of the Colorado Energy Office in the Polis administration. He called it a “remarkable act of national self-sabotage” that will allow China to lead the sector.

“We're talking about kneecapping advanced industries in the United States,” he said. “It's as if somebody was designing a bill to try to assure that the future belongs to other countries and that the United States will weaken its competitiveness in almost every advanced industry.”

Under the Biden administration’s 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, companies building wind and solar farms could qualify for tax breaks of up to 30% of costs. Those tax breaks now end after 2026 for projects that have not yet begun construction.

Susan Nedell, a senior advocate for the West for Environmental Entrepreneurs -- a nonpartisan group of climate-minded business leaders -- expects the cancellation of big projects in Colorado and nationwide, along with layoffs and fewer investments in solar and wind projects,

The bill also ends a swath of tax credits for consumers:

• Tax deductions for energy-efficient lighting and HVAC systems used in construction, expiring June 30, 2026.
• A tax credit for new homes that meet energy efficiency standards, expiring June 30, 2026.
• A credit for home renovations that improve efficiency, expiring Dec. 31.
• Tax incentives for geothermal heat pumps and other home efficiency products, expiring Dec. 31.

Federal tax credits of up to $7,500 for people buying new electric cars and a $4,000 credit for used cars will now end Sept. 30.

On Dec. 31, a federal tax credit for homeowners of up to 30% of the cost of installing rooftop solar systems will end.

A provision opposed by a broad coalition of Coloradans that would have mandated the sale of public lands was struck from the bill. But other changes remained that make it cheaper for oil and gas companies to use public lands.

The bill undoes the Biden administration’s increase in royalty rates for oil and gas leasing and rescinds mandatory royalty payments on methane produced on public lands by oil and gas companies. It also mandates quarterly lease sales for public lands in the West -- a change that eliminates agency and local discretion on whether land should be leased.

Industry leaders in the West applauded the bill, with Western Energy Alliance president Melissa Simpson saying it will “unleash the energy we need.”

The Associated Press and The New York Times contributed to this story.

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The person fishing notified first responders shortly after noon “that they believed they saw a deceased person floating face-down in the reservoir,” according to a Boulder County Sheriff’s Office news release.

The Nederland Fire Protection District confirmed there was a body in the water, and the Boulder Emergency Squad’s cold water dive team recovered the body from the reservoir near Nederland.

The dead man has not been identified.

The Boulder County Coroner’s Office will identify the man and determine the cause and manner of death.

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Negotiators from the seven river basin states said in a series of meetings in recent weeks that they were discussing a plan rooted in a concept that breaks from decades of management practice. Rather than basing water releases on reservoir levels, it would base the amount released from the system’s two major reservoirs on the amount of water flowing in the river. The new concept would be more responsive as river flows become more variable.

The comments signal a break in months of stalemate between the Upper Basin states — Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Wyoming — and the three Lower Basin states: California, Nevada and Arizona. The states’ representatives are wrestling with a seemingly simple question: How should the river’s water be allocated as long-term drought and higher temperatures fueled by climate change decimate the amount of water available?

The Upper Basin states have argued that they have already borne the brunt of lower river flows. That’s because they rely on snowmelt and precipitation, since they are upstream of the system’s two major reservoirs, Lakes Powell and Mead.

The Lower Basin states — which sit below the reservoirs and rely on releases from them for their water supplies — have said they have already made major reductions in water use and that the Upper Basin states must also agree to cuts.

The new concept for managing the river reflects an attempt to account for the reality of the shrinking river and will, if adopted, adjust releases from the reservoirs based on the amount of water in the river.

“This is a very new thing,” Arizona’s negotiator, Tom Buschatzke, said of the idea at a June 17 meeting of the Arizona Reconsultation Committee. “It is focused on what the river provides and looking at ways to share that volume.”

The Colorado River system — relied upon by 40 million people — stands on the brink of system failure, Colorado’s negotiator, Becky Mitchell, said at a June 26 meeting of the Upper Colorado River Commission.

“We also stand on the precipice of a major decision point — an opportunity point,” she said. “We have the responsibility and opportunity to do better if we collectively choose to do so.”

After years of talks, the states face a federal deadline to submit a plan early next year, with other decisions due sooner. Current rules dictating how the river is managed expire at the end of 2026.

What does the new concept look like?

The conceptual framework dictates that releases from Lakes Powell and Mead would be a percentage of a rolling three-year average of the river’s natural flow.

That’s a huge shift from previous management plans that called for releasing set quantities of water based on reservoir levels.

Using a percentage instead of a fixed volume would acknowledge that the amount of water in the river has shrunk significantly since 1922, when the states struck the original agreement over how to share the flows.

“The quantification of hydrologic shortage is incredibly important,” Mitchell said. “No amount of lawyering is going to fix the math problem … we must live with the river we have, not the river we want.”

What do people think of it?

“I think it has a lot of promise,” Anne Castle, a former assistant secretary for water and science at the U.S. Interior Department and a former chair of the Upper Colorado River Commission, said of the emerging concept.

“I think it responds directly to the hydrological situation that we’re in, where supply is shrinking and it’s also very volatile,” she said in an interview. “If you base allocations on a percentage of recent hydrology, I think that gets you closer to actually solving the problem of having a big gap in supply and demand in the Colorado River system.”

But the devil’s in the details, she warned.

The states, if they adopt the plan, will have to decide how to calculate the river’s natural flow — which is the amount of water that would be in the river without any human intervention. That number will serve as the base from which the percentage is derived.

Then they’ll have to decide exactly what that percentage should be.

Negotiators will also have to determine how to enforce the agreement if the Upper Basin is obligated to ensure a percentage of the river reaches the reservoirs but fails to do so, Castle said.

How long do states have to hammer out details?

Federal officials, for the first time last week, publicly announced a hard deadline for the negotiations.

The states need to tell the federal government by Nov. 11 if there will be a deal, said Scott Cameron, the acting assistant secretary for water and science at the Department of the Interior. Then the states would have until Feb. 14 to submit a detailed plan.

In the meantime, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation will continue the monthslong process of analyzing other potential management plans, as required by the National Environmental Policy Act. Federal officials plan to analyze such a wide range of options that any plan submitted by the states would fit in that range, Cameron said last month at a conference in Boulder.

The bureau is on track to release a draft of that analysis by the end of the year — and a final plan by summer 2026, he said.

Even as negotiations have faltered at times, and tensions between the states have flared into the public eye, negotiators from the states have repeatedly pledged their commitment to finding a deal.

“We are dedicated to a consensus agreement,” Commissioner Estevan Lopez of New Mexico said. “Anything else is likely to lead to litigation … and that leads to years and years of uncertainty, and none of us will win in that context.”

How’s the river looking this year, anyway?

Not good.

The amount of water expected to flow into Lake Powell this year is 54% of the average from 1991 to 2020, according to the National Weather Service’s Colorado Basin River Forecast Center.

“This is one of the five driest years over the past 50 or 60 years,” Daniel Bunk, the office chief for the Bureau of Reclamation’s Boulder Canyon Operations Office, said at last month’s Arizona Reconsultation Committee meeting.

The most recent modeling by the Bureau of Reclamation shows that, in the worst-case scenario, Lake Powell’s water level could drop below the minimum power pool level by December 2026. If that were to happen, water would no longer be able to flow through Glen Canyon Dam’s hydroelectric infrastructure, which delivers power to seven states — including Colorado.

The most likely scenario isn’t good, either. If conditions continue as expected, the reservoir will not add any water to its supplies in the next year, and water levels are expected to decline over the next two years.

That’s especially troubling, since both Lake Mead and Lake Powell are only a third full now.

“Overall, we know we have a very significant gap between supply and demand, and we’ve been getting away with using more than nature’s supplies,” Castle said. “But the reservoirs are going down very quickly — especially this year. You can’t overspend your income on a permanent basis.”

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Two employees in the EPA’s Region 8 headquarters in Denver and one who works at the EPA’s National Enforcement Investigations Center in Lakewood are under investigation for signing the letter, said Kate Tribbett, vice president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 3607, which represents Region 8 employees.

The “Declaration of Dissent” letter, which was sent to Zeldin on Monday, was published on the Stand Up for Science website, and shows at least 13 current and retired Region 8 employees as signatories. The letter accuses Zeldin of undermining the agency’s mission to protect the environment and human health.

“It’s an interesting way to celebrate Independence Day to put people on administrative leave for using their First Amendment right to speak freely,” said Britta Copt, president of Local 3607.

It appears the signatories who serve as union officers or stewards have not been placed on leave, Copt said. Those who have taken early retirement or a buyout have not been affected by the administrative leave.

The employees on leave will be investigated for using government time and computers to sign the letter, Copt said. The union will defend those employees’ rights to free speech and is demanding the EPA recall the workers and end the investigation, she said.

EPA press secretary Brigit Hirsch wrote in a statement to The Denver Post, that the agency “has a zero-tolerance policy for career bureaucrats unlawfully undermining, sabotaging and undercutting the administration’s agenda as voted for by the great people of this country last November.”

Region 8 administrator Cyrus Western, who was appointed by President Donald Trump, personally spoke to the two from the Region 8 office who were placed on leave, Tribbett said. Those who were in the office were escorted out of the building by security, she said.

“That is very unusual and only done in the past when the employee was thought to be a threat,” Tribbett said.

The notice sent to employees said they would be on paid administrative leave until July 17, pending an investigation, according to a copy obtained by The Post. It did not explain why the employees were under investigation.

“During the time you are on administrative leave, you will not experience any loss in benefits or pay. You are required to provide a current email address and phone number so that we can contact you as part of our investigation,” the letter stated.

“Please verify your contact information with the individuals included on this email immediately. You will be expected to be available at the phone number provided above (and/or by any additional or alternative contact information you provide) during your regular duty hours in accordance with your currently approved work schedule should the agency need to contact you.”

The “Declaration of Dissent” letter, which was signed by 230 people and copied to Congress, accuses Zeldin of undermining the EPA’s mission of protecting human health and the environment.

“Since the agency’s founding in 1970, EPA has accomplished this mission by leveraging science, funding and expert staff in service to the American people,” the letter states. “Today, we stand together in dissent against the current administration’s focus on harmful deregulation, mischaracterization of previous EPA actions, and disregard for scientific expertise.

“Since January 2025, federal workers across the country have been denigrated and dismissed based on false claims of waste, fraud and abuse. Meanwhile, Americans have witnessed the unraveling of public health and environmental protections in the pursuit of political advantage.”

It lays out five areas of concern: undermining public trust, ignoring science to benefit polluters, environmental justice, dismantling the EPA’s Office of Research and Development, and creating a culture of fear.

Under Zeldin’s leadership, the EPA has reduced employment across the country, cut funding for environmental justice, proposed repealing rules that limit emissions from coal-fired power plants, frozen grants for clean energy projects and tried to undo a ban on asbestos.

Cindy Beeler, a former energy adviser in the Region 8 office, said she signed the letter because Zeldin and Trump are eroding the EPA’s important role in the United States. She said similar moves in other agencies, such as the National Institutes of Health, also worry her.

“The attack on science has been happening for years and years and years now,” Beeler said.

The EPA’s Office of Research and Development was world-renowned for its work on environmental problems. During her career, Beeler said it was the EPA’s research on methane that led to national policy that directed oil and gas companies to reduce emissions at their drilling sites.

“Without that emissions data, you can’t make a rule,” she said. “Scientific research has been shut down. You can’t just pick it back up in a month or a year and say, ‘Let’s start those Petri dishes again.'”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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