After a fancy dinner in June to celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary, the server handed my husband and me dessert menus. We glanced at it, looked at each other and said, “Power Cone!”

So off we headed to Arvada’s newest ice cream shop, hoping to make it before Power Cone ran out of ice cream for the night or the owner closed the door at 10 p.m. We skirted inside just before closing to enjoy the best soft serve in the Denver metro.

Power Cone pitches itself as serving “most excellent soft serve.” We agree. It sources its dairy products from Morning Fresh Dairy Farm in Bellvue (Larimer County), where the farmers raise their cows, grow their feed and bottle their milk. The store uses organic A2/A2 milk powder from Alexandre Family Farm in California. That type of milk has different proteins from most cows’ milk and is believed to be better absorbed by the human body.

Power Cone also uses organic sugar cane and fair-trade vanilla and cocoa. The only other ingredients are guar gum (a natural thickener) and soy lecithin (an emulsifier).

You can choose from chocolate, vanilla or strawberry and add toppings such as peanuts, cookies, potato chips and sprinkles. Or go wild and order a chocolate-dipped cone (waffle cones are available, too). Power Cone also makes sundaes and floats.

But that’s it.

And it’s all you need from this family-owned ice cream shop.

The owners put so much care into their products and it shows when the ice cream machine twists soft serve into a waffle cone. The flavors are natural and the cream is rich and smooth. The chocolate tastes like real chocolate, not some artificial “chocolate-like” imitation. Same with the vanilla. (We haven’t sampled the strawberry.)

Pete Castleberry, the “cone experience officer” and an owner, is a quirky dude who posts silly videos on Power Cone’s Instagram account. He makes a Power Cone visit all the more fun. And he is super nice.

The shop even gives back to the community by donating 5% of gross revenues to charity. On Juneteenth, the shop gave 25% of its sales to Youth Seen and Black Pride Colorado.

On our anniversary night, the cashier asked why we were dressed up. When we told her we were celebrating a special day, Pete overheard while making a waffle cone and said, “Ice cream is on us tonight.” What a surprise — especially when a new shop is trying to make it in the rough-and-tumble food industry. We tipped generously that night.

Power Cone is at 8295 Ralston Road in Arvada. It’s open every day except Monday from 1 to 10 p.m. (summer hours). powercone.love

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However, details about how many credits those five companies purchased, and by how much they were allowed to offset emissions reductions through those purchases, remain a secret because state regulations prevent disclosure of those details.

The credit-trading program has been heavily criticized by environmentalists as a pay-to-pollute scheme that allows the state’s dirtiest industries to avoid making real changes to their greenhouse-gas emissions, which pollute the air and contribute to climate change.

The five companies that bid on credits were Cemex Construction Materials, a cement plant near Lyons; GCC Rio Grande, Inc., which makes cement in Pueblo and Penrose; Sterling Ethanol, a chemical manufacturer in Sterling; Suncor Energy’s oil refinery in Commerce City; and Yuma Ethanol, a chemical manufacturer in Yuma, according to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment’s auction summary. Sterling Ethanol and Yuma Ethanol are owned by Colorado Agri Products.

The sellers were Anheuser Busch’s Fort Collins brewery; Avago Technologies Wireless Manufacturing, which makes semiconductors and other electronic components in Fort Collins; and Western Sugar in Fort Morgan, according to the state’s auction summary.

Credits sold for about $25 each, and one credit equals one ton of carbon dioxide equivalents for one year. So if a company spent $100 at the auction, that company’s required emissions reduction would be four tons lower than what it otherwise would have been required to cut through improved technology or other measures.

In total, 2,760 credits were sold out of almost 106,280 credits offered.

Patrick Cummins, the health department’s director of environmental health and protection, said the state did not have any preconceived expectations going into the auction, but he was not surprised that so few credits were purchased.

“The companies offering and those bidding also didn’t know what to expect,” Cummins said.

Not every company that bid ended up buying credits, he said.

The Denver Post reached out to Suncor and Colorado AgriProducts to ask how the auction worked from their perspective, but representatives did not respond.

The details on which companies bought credits and how much they paid are kept secret to maintain a fair marketplace, Cummins said. If sellers knew how much a company was willing to pay, it could distort the market, he said.

Colorado’s Air Quality Control Commission, which establishes air pollution policies, created the greenhouse-gas credit-trading system while trying to come up with a plan to reduce by 20% the greenhouse-gas emissions from the state’s 18 largest manufacturers.

The plan allows companies that can lower their emissions beyond the mandated benchmark to sell credits to companies that struggle to meet the state’s emissions standards.

State regulators believed that by forcing the 18 largest industrial manufacturers to cut emissions, Colorado would move closer to its goal of eliminating all greenhouse-gas emissions by 2050. Those manufacturers include Suncor, Molson Coors, Western Sugar, Leprino Foods, Microchip Technology, JBS Foods and Cargill Meat Solutions, and they represent about 15% of all climate pollution emitted by industrial and manufacturing facilities in Colorado.

The majority of those 18 companies reduced their emissions below the specified levels they needed to meet in 2024 and did not need to buy credits, Cummins said.

The 18 companies will be evaluated and graded on their emissions reduction on a three-year cycle, and 2024 was the first year in the cycle, he said. There could be a greater demand for credits in the next two years as companies figure out how close they are to meeting the state’s mandated 2030 goal. But it is too early to predict whether some will rely on credits to make the goal, Cummins said.

Eight companies have told the state health department that they would achieve their 2030 reduction goals this year, Cummins said. Of the 18, only three exceeded the 2024 reduction requirements: Suncor, JBS Foods and Sterling Ethanol, according to the state’s greenhouse gas report.

Greenhouse gases include carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and fluorinated gases that trap heat in the atmosphere. Those gases linger and circle the Earth, causing global warming and climate change that brings on more severe weather such as large forest fires, rainstorms and intense summer heat. They also impact human health, causing respiratory and heart diseases and some cancers.

Colorado is planning to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2030 and to zero by 2050, and the credit-trading program is just one of multiple programs in place to help the state reach that goal.

Last year, the state approved a credit-trading program for natural-gas operators. Other programs include a push to get more electric vehicles on the road, require state and local governments to use electric lawn equipment, and to shutter the state’s coal-fired power plants by the end of 2030.

When the credit-trading program was approved in 2023, multiple environmental groups said the system would create a loophole that would allow the state’s biggest polluters, such as the Suncor refinery in Commerce City, to buy their way out of making serious greenhouse gas reductions.

But business leaders and the governor’s office wanted the credit-trading system, fearing that burdensome regulation would force some companies to move out of state.

June’s greenhouse-gas credit auction occurred with little fanfare. Multiple environmental groups contacted by The Post did not know it had happened. And that, too, was criticized because state regulators have promised to be transparent with the people who live in neighborhoods closest to those large polluters and who are most impacted by the pollution.

Ean Tafoya, of GreenLatinos, said no one told him that credits had been sold and he did not completely understand what had happened.

“I’m left with more questions than I have answers,” he said. “I’m disappointed there wasn’t more enhanced community engagement on such an important issue.”

Ian Coghill, senior attorney for Earthjustice, said he was surprised by how few credits were sold and how little the credits cost, especially since the state has determined the social cost of greenhouse gas emissions equals about $89 per ton. That essentially puts a price tag on how pollution impacts the environment and human health.

“I assumed the credits would go for much more money,” Coghill said.

Story update: This article was changed on July 23 to report the correct number of greenhouse gas credits that were offered at auction.

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The company will pay a $90,000 fine to the state for accepting bets on the two events, according to documents filed with the Colorado Limited Gaming Control Commission. The penalties were approved Thursday by the commission.

DraftKings accepted 100 wagers on the Paul-Tyson fight ahead of the November 2024 boxing match even though Colorado had issued a bulletin to sports betting companies that wagers would not be allowed under the state’s sports-betting rules, according to a stipulation and agreement notice.

Colorado’s gaming division determined the boxing match deviated from the rules approved by the Association of Boxing Commissions and Combative Sports because the fighters would be wearing 14-ounce boxing gloves instead of the usual eight or 10-ounce gloves and because the fight would have two-minute rounds instead of the usual three-minute rounds.

Because of those rule changes, Colorado decided it would not be an acceptable match for wagering, the stipulation agreement stated.

But DraftKings opened a Jake Paul vs Mike Tyson Props Pool anyway. In a props pool, gamblers bet on things that may happen in the match such as whether someone would get knocked down in the first round, whether the match would last six rounds or whether one fighter would win by a knockout. In the Paul-Tyson match there were prop bets on whether Tyson would bite Paul’s ear like he did in the infamous 1997 match against Evander Holyfield.

DraftKings accepted at least 100 wagers from Colorado before the sports-betting company removed the props pool from its Colorado betting sites and refunded the gamblers’ money.

The gaming commission determined DraftKings violated the state’s sports betting rules, including failing to obtain approval before offering a pool and failing to immediately report its violations to the state.

DraftKings was fined $50,000 for the Paul-Tyson pool.

The Paul-Tyson fight was a record-setting event for wagering on combat sports as millions of people logged onto Netflix to watch. Paul won by unanimous decision after eight rounds.

In a second stipulation and agreement approved by the gaming commission, DraftKings admitted it violated Colorado sports-betting rules by accepting proposition bets on how University of Arizona basketball star Caleb Love would perform in the March 23 NCAA basketball tournament second-round game against Oregon.

State sports-betting rules do not allow proposition bets on collegiate athletes’ individual performances. Multiple states have outlawed those bets because it could incentivize cheating and it could make the players targets of angry gamblers who blame them for losses.

DraftKings accepted 80 proposition bets from Colorado gamblers on March 23, according to the stipulation agreement, and reported its violation the next day after the game had been played. The agreement did not state whether DraftKings refunded the bettors’ money or paid out to winners.

DraftKings agreed to a $40,000 fine for that violation.

DraftKings chief compliance officer Jennifer Aguiar wrote in a statement to The Denver Post, “We promptly addressed the issues in coordination with the commission and have taken steps to strengthen our processes. We remain committed to upholding all regulatory standards in every jurisdiction where we operate and to delivering a responsible, seamless customer experience.”

DraftKings has paid fines in other states for gambling violations, including a $425,000 penalty in Ohio in 2024 for, in part, accepting wagers on college athletes’ performances in games.

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The EPA published a notice in the Federal Register that it intends to deny Colorado’s plan to shutter coal-fired power plants as part of the state’s strategy to reduce the regional haze that clouds views at Rocky Mountain National Park and other federal lands. Colorado was previously allowed to list coal-plant closures as an acceptable strategy to reduce haze.

Cyrus Western, director of EPA Region 8, which includes Colorado, affirmed to The Denver Post that the denial is part of the Trump administration’s plan to make sure no federal regulations stand in the way of coal-fired power generation.

Western, a Trump appointee from Wyoming, which is the nation’s largest producer of coal, did not say the EPA would override Colorado’s laws that require the coal-burning plants to close, although the Federal Register notice indicates the agency might do so.

“What the legislature does and what the governor does, the laws they pass, that is the state’s business,” Western said. “But from a federal standpoint, we want to be sure there will not be a single shutdown of a coal-fired generation unit because of federal regulation or by the federal government breathing down their necks.”

The EPA’s proposal alarmed environmentalists who have been leery of President Donald Trump’s repeated remarks about “beautiful, clean coal” and his executive orders that promote the coal industry.

The president this year has used executive orders — citing energy emergencies — to force coal plants to remain open in Michigan and Pennsylvania. And the EPA under Trump’s leadership has proposed repealing Biden administration regulations that would have reduced greenhouse gas emissions from coal power plants and required the power sector to cut mercury and other air toxics.

“It’s in keeping with the ideology of this administration to do everything possible to prop up the dying coal industry,” said Jeremy Nichols, senior advocate with the Center for Biological Diversity. “It’s absurd.”

The ruling is a pivot from past EPA decisions that allow the closing of coal-fired power plants to count toward clean air goals, Nichols said, and it could pave the way for Xcel Energy and other utilities to keep their coal-fired plants running.

“It doesn’t help to have the EPA telling the state it’s illegal to close coal-fired power plants,” Nichols said. “This is a punch in the face to Colorado’s climate progress.”

But Colorado regulators said the EPA’s proposed denial of Colorado’s plans will not have an impact on the state because the retirement dates for all of the state’s remaining coal plants remain enforceable under state law and the transition already is underway.

“Utilities are moving away from coal because it’s no longer the most affordable or reliable option,” said Michael Ogletree, senior director of state air quality programs at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. “Many coal plants have already shut down or are on track to retire — driven by economics and cost savings for consumers, not federal mandates. That transition is locked in through utility planning and will continue regardless of this federal decision.”

Gov. Jared Polis’ office reiterated the point that the utility companies operating in the state already have plans to close those plants.

“Colorado utilities have their own ambitious plans to reduce costs, including retiring costly coal plants to transition to more stable clean energy, and lower costs,” Ally Sullivan, a governor’s spokesperson, said in an email. “The EPA’s proposed denial has no meaningful impact on utilities’ plans to move away from coal because it’s no longer the most affordable or reliable option.”

Utilty wants to keep plant open

However, the EPA’s notice in the Federal Register stated that Colorado Springs Utilities told the agency in April that it wants to exclude its Ray D. Nixon Power Plant in Fountain from the state’s closure plans. The utility also met with state regulators on April 23 to ask that Nixon be allowed to remain open, according to the Federal Register notice.

Danielle Nieves, a Colorado Springs Utilities spokesperson, said the company is still scheduled to shutter Nixon in 2029, but that date is causing reliability challenges and the utility is having difficulties finding resources for the transition to renewable energy.

“The market for renewable energy resources across the country is tremendously challenging with ongoing supply chain congestion and regulatory uncertainty — resulting in renewable energy resources being three to five times more expensive than originally forecasted,” she said in an email.

Nieves said the utility is supportive of the EPA’s recommendation to exclude Nixon from the regional haze plan “because Colorado doesn’t need the Nixon closure to achieve its reasonable progress targets, and that choosing to include Nixon could present serious reliability challenges for Colorado Springs Utilities.”

Spokeswoman Michelle Aguayo said Xcel remains committed to retiring its coal units — including the Comanche Generating Station in Pueblo — by the end of 2030.

“Nothing in this action from the Environmental Protection Agency directly changes our Colorado resource plans,” she said in an emailed statement.

Although Western said that “what Colorado does is Colorado’s business,” the EPA’s notification argued that the Clean Air Act does not give states the ability to order coal power plants to close, citing the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment, which prohibits the government from taking private property without just compensation.

The EPA also argues — although without specific evidence — that forcing the closures would violate Colorado state law.

Coal is one of the dirtiest forms of electricity generation, annually releasing millions of tons of pollutants into the air that contribute to global warming and harm human health. Those emissions include carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides, mercury, sulfur dioxide and fine particulate matter. Those power plants also create a coal ash byproduct that leaches contaminants such as lithium and selenium into groundwater.

‘Turning that progress backwards’

Coal emissions help create a haze in the skies, and that haze has become a problem at national parks across the country, including Rocky Mountain National Park, Great Sand Dunes National Park, Mesa Verde National Park and Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, said Tracy Copolla, the National Parks Conservation Association’s Colorado program manager.

“We are still in a situation where there is significant regional haze in Colorado,” Copolla said. “It goes for miles and miles and miles.”

Ulla Reeves, the National Park Conservation Association’s clean air program director, said the EPA’s proposal is undercutting Colorado’s progress to clean its air.

“Colorado had one of the strongest plans that we’ve seen in the entire country,” Reeves said. “This is really turning that progress backwards. It’s extremely concerning what the EPA is doing here and undercutting the state’s authority.”

The EPA opened a 60-day public comment period on the proposed rule and multiple environmental groups said they plan to weigh in. They hope Colorado does as well.

“The state really needs to flex its muscles and try to stymie the feds,” Nichols said.

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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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The landspout tornado, which was confirmed by a spotter for the National Weather Service, was reported at 3:52 p.m. about 13 miles east of Fort Morgan and moving about 20 miles per hour, according to an alert from the National Weather Service.

A tornado warning was in effect until 4:15 p.m. Sunday and people were advised to move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a well-built building and to move away from windows. Those who could not get inside, live in mobile homes or were in a car were advised to move to the nearest substantial shelter to protect themselves from flying debris.

No injuries or property damage have been reported to the National Weather Service, said Zach Hiris, a meteorologist in the Boulder office.

The tornado was part of a severe weather front moving across the northeastern plains of Colorado. The storms are expected to last until 8 p.m., Hiris said.

In Phillips and Logan counties, a severe thunderstorm was producing 2-inch hail and winds up to 60 miles per hour, according to a National Weather Service alert.

The National Weather Service in Boulder is reporting a 40% chance of showers and thunderstorms after 3 p.m. Sunday for the Denver Metro area. The temperature will reach the low 90s ahead of the afternoon storms.

Winds from the west will pick up in the afternoon with steady speeds between 6 to 11 miles per hour and gusts up to 20 miles per hour.

Some afternoon storms could be severe with hail up to 2 inches in diameter and damaging winds. Those storms are mainly expected across the plains, the weather service reported.

The storms and wind are likely to continue into Sunday night.

Scattered showers and thunderstorms are predicted for Monday and Tuesday before a triple-digit heat wave arrives on Wednesday, according to the weather service’s forecast.

No people or pets were injured in the fires, according to South Metro Fire Rescue’s social media posts.

The first fire was reported just after midnight in unincorporated Douglas County when deputies arrived at a home on the 1500 block of Pebblewood Court in the Stonegate neighborhood, according to the fire department.

Douglas County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrived first and saw flames in the garage while the family was inside trying to rescue a dog and two cats, the sheriff’s office reported on X. Deputies rushed inside to evacuate the family. Four were treated on scene for smoke inhalation and are OK. The people and pets were rescued.

The fire destroyed the garage and a vehicle inside and caused significant damage to an upstairs bedroom, the sheriff’s office reported.

The second fire was reported around 12:45 a.m. on the 5200 block of South Crocker Way in Littleton, according to South Metro’s X account.

Littleton police helped firefighters evacuate the family and a cat, the fire department reported. Firefighters were forced to punch holes in ceilings throughout the house due to charring in the attic to make sure the flames didn’t spread.

That family also is displaced, the fire department stated.

“Please remember: Fireworks may look harmless when extinguished, but leftover embers can reignite,” the Douglas County sheriff’s staff wrote on X. “Never store used fireworks near your home or in plastic bins.”

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But environmentalists worry that is a big “if” as long as the Trump administration is in power, and now they are asking the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment to include the Comanche Generating Station’s projected closure date of Jan. 1, 2031, in the Pueblo power plant’s latest Title V air permit.

They hope putting the date in a permit that needs Environmental Protection Agency approval will guarantee that Xcel, the largest utility company operating in Colorado, will shutter its last coal-fired power plant in the state by that deadline.

“I really want to emphasize the need to ensure that these retirement dates, which Xcel has committed to and everybody has agreed to, are established and set in stone via this Title V air permit,” said Jeremy Nichols, a senior advocate for the Center for Biological Diversity. “Right now, the federal government has launched an unprecedented assault on states like Colorado who are trying to do their part to confront the climate crisis and protect clean air and to enable a transition from coal to clean energy.”

Colorado’s utility companies have been planning for nearly two decades to shutter their coal-burning power plants and transition to cleaner alternatives, including natural gas, solar and wind power. Comanche is the largest coal-burning power plant in the state, and two of its three operating units still create electricity from coal.

Xcel is on track to shutter Comanche’s Unit 2 in September and remains committed to closing the plant’s Unit 3, which generates 750 megawatts of electricity, by January 2031, said Michelle Aguayo, a Xcel Colorado spokeswoman. Unit 1 is already closed.

“We continue to make significant progress towards our emission reduction goals approved by the state, which would require us to retire our coal units by (the end of) 2030,” Aguayo wrote in a statement. “We’re working with the administration and our states to continue delivering customers safe, clean, reliable energy while keeping our customers’ bills as low as possible.”

But President Donald Trump and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin want the United States to continue burning coal, saying it is needed now more than ever to fuel a growing demand for electricity. That demand is being sparked, in part, by a growing reliance on artificial intelligence, which consumes massive amounts of power.

In April, Trump signed executive orders aimed at boosting the industry, calling it “America’s beautiful, clean coal,” and vowing to prevent states from curtailing its use. As part of that push, the president has ordered utilities in Michigan and Pennsylvania to keep their coal plants open even when some were on the verge of shutting down.

But Colorado officials pushed back, with Gov. Jared Polis calling the president’s orders “federal overreach.” By eliminating coal-fired power plants, Colorado will inch closer to meeting its goals for cutting greenhouse gas emissions and addressing climate change.

Now, though, Polis’ regulators are being asked to put that commitment in writing.

“We are exploring if we would have legal authority to include an enforceable retirement date for Comanche’s Unit 3 coal plant in the draft Title V operating permit — and what exactly that would mean,” said Kate Malloy, an Air Pollution Control Division spokeswoman.

Coal is a dirty substance, emitting more carbon dioxide than other energy sources and accelerating climate change. Coal also contains multiple other contaminants such as mercury, sulfur dioxide, fine particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide that are released into the air and are a threat to human health.

It also leaves a toxic byproduct called coal ash, which contains arsenic, lithium, selenium, cobalt and other metals, that must be dumped into landfills in the state. Millions of tons of coal ash are buried in Colorado, and at least three sites have been documented as leaking lithium and selenium into groundwater.

Even though Xcel plans to shutter Comanche’s Unit 3 within five years, it still needed to renew its Title V air permit, the document that details how much pollution the company is allowed to spew into the air.

Under the proposed permit, the amount of pollution coming from Comanche would be reduced by thousands of tons of particulate matter, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds and hazardous air pollutants, said Carrisa Money, the state health department’s Title V operating permits unit manager.

The permits are supposed to be renewed every five years. Xcel’s was last renewed in 2018.

Xcel submitted its renewal application in 2022, and now the Colorado health department is on the verge of approving it.

The state’s Air Quality Control Commission, which sets state air pollution regulations, on Tuesday held a public hearing on the permit application at which five people asked the state to do its part to slow climate change. Another 54 people submitted letters, most of which asked for the closure date to be included in the permit.

“We want to be responsive to the feedback we have received and do what’s best for Colorado, so we are working to evaluate this issue,” Malloy said in an emailed statement. “Once we have an answer, we will respond to public comments as appropriate.”

Utility companies like Xcel plan for years to shutter power plants as they replace coal with cleaner power generation. And they set goals with approvals from the Colorado Public Utilities Commission, which is responsible for making sure there is enough power surging through the grid to keep people’s lights on at an affordable price.

Malloy noted that the Comanche Unit 3 retirement date is enforceable through the company’s clean energy plans, which are required by state law and were submitted with Xcel’s electric resource plan to the PUC. The Air Pollution Control Division supports clean energy plans by verifying data and sharing them for public review and input, she said.

“Even if a federally enforceable permit condition were not on the table, the state does still have oversight and enforcement authority for coal plant retirement dates,” Malloy said.

But that hasn’t stopped Trump from making his demands. So Nichols believes it is necessary for the state to put the closure date in the Title V permit.

“We urge Colorado to create a bulwark, a defense, so to speak, against the federal government’s attacks on our climate progress and our progress in transitioning away from coal,” Nichols said during Tuesday’s public hearing on the permit. “I think that emphasizes the need to find perhaps more creative ways to ensure that the Comanche coal-fired power plant retirement dates are fully set in stone through this Title V permit.”

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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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