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Congressional Daily Record
This section captures a floor statement or debate entry. It mentions legislation such as Providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Environmental Protection Agency relating to "Air Plan Disapproval; Colorado; Regional Haze Plan for the Second Implementation Period"., members such as John Wright Hickenlooper.
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April 29, 2026
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Download official Senate Record PDFReturn to issue contextMr. HICKENLOOPER. Mr. President, Colorado is one of the most beautiful places not just in America but in the world.
In Denver, we have got over 300 days of sunshine annually. We have access to incredible green spaces, and if you look west, you can lose yourself in the best view in America—the Rocky Mountains.
But it wasn't always this way.
cities in America. Even stretching back to my days as mayor back in the 2000s, one of our main goals was to attract young people to not just come and ski in Colorado but to visit Denver, perhaps consider starting a business there, building a business, growing your family, building a life.
grew by just about 20 percent. This brought more cars, more industry but also more pollution. By the 1970s and 1980s, the smog was so bad that, nationally, there was a nickname for Denver—the “brown cloud.” There were days you couldn't even see the mountains at all, which, as a geologist and a Coloradan, pained me.
But then something incredible happened. In 1970, a Democratic Congress passed the Clean Air Act. It was signed into law by a Republican President. It is a reminder that clean air has never been a partisan issue. It benefits literally everyone. The Clean Air Act helped to propel States like Colorado and others to turn things around, to look at that pollution in a different light. Emissions testing and fuel standards soon followed, and guess what happened. The air got cleaner. Visibility improved. People such as my son who has asthma would be healthier.
Then, in 1999, the EPA created the Regional Haze Program. The initiative was rooted around one single idea: If you go to a national park, you should be able to see it. So States were asked to develop plans to cut pollution that limits those gorgeous views.
Once again, Colorado stepped in and led the way. In my first year as Governor, Colorado submitted our Regional Haze State Implementation Plan, which was first approved in 2012. It put us on a path to improving the quality of air we breathe in the place that we are lucky to call home.
create the first methane regulations in the world in 2014. This was the blending of environmental and industry discussions. I think those regulations—again, the first methane regulations in the world were in Colorado—helped in the years leading up to 2017 to reduce methane emissions from Colorado's oil and gas sector by 70 percent. That is right—70 percent.
to turn back the clock and reduce and diminish the success of Colorado's clean air efforts.
against, rejected Colorado's updated Regional Haze Plan. They didn't reject Colorado's plan because the science was wrong. They didn't dispute the goals, and they didn't dispute the modeling. They rejected it to prop up a handful of aging coal plants—coal-fired electrical generation plants—that were already planning to close. The utilities had created the models, had found the replacement sources of energy, and were ready to close those older, less-efficient, and significantly dirtier generation plants.
air and affordable energy, which is nonsense. Colorado has shown that that is a false choice. Time and time again, we have brought communities and utilities and regulators together to protect our clean air supply without hurting our economy or our energy supply.
action alerts in a decade. Let me say that again. Last year was the lowest number of ozone action alerts in a decade. Thanks to bipartisan investments in renewable energy, Colorado ranked among the top 10 States in overall energy production.
The administration's decision doesn't lower costs for anybody. It just means more pollution and more haze in those very places we treasure the most.
Colorado is never going to move forward by returning to the 1970s. For decades, we have fought tooth and nail to ensure that our mountains are visible and our national parks are the most beautiful and the most enjoyable in America. We should support this measure and prevent Washington politics from clouding Colorado's hard-fought progress.
I yield the floor.
Mr. BENNET. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. McCORMICK. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.