Groups opposed to the state’s $1.2 billion expansion of Interstate 70 in northeast Denver have joined the Sierra Club in a federal lawsuit to attempt to scuttle the project.
The suit, filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, may prompt transportation officials to rethink the I-70 proposal, said Becky English of the Sierra Club’s Rocky Mountain Chapter.
“We hope this lawsuit causes CDOT to investigate removing the traffic and pollution from north Denver neighborhoods,” English said.
The suit challenges new EPA Clean Air Act requirements. The Colorado Department of Transportation are using those new standards to claim that increased emissions from traffic on the expanded I-70 would not violate national air quality standards, according to the suit.
Under the EPA’s earlier Clean Air Act, the I-70 project could not qualify for federal funds because it would cause particulate pollution to violate the air standards on high pollution days, say opponents.
Under the new guidelines, multiple high pollution days would not be counted against the standard, allowing the project to get federal funds.
The Sierra Club, Citizens for Greater Denver, Elyria and Swansea Neighborhood Association and the Cross Community Coalition are listed as plaintiffs. The EPA and its administrator, Gina McCarthy, are listed as defendants.
CDOT wants to retool the central I-70 corridor between I-25 and Tower Road by adding new toll lanes, removing the aging 50-year-old viaduct and lowering the interstate between Brighton Boulevard and Colorado Boulevard.
Crews would then put a four-acre landscaped cover over a portion of the lowered interstate.
Critics claim the reconstruction will be an environmental disaster. Drew Dutcher, president of the Elyria and Swansea Neighborhood Association, said those living adjacent to I-70 have already suffered health problems.”
“The residents of Elyria and Swansea know many neighbors who, because of the pollution, have suffered debilitating diseases, died of pollution-related causes or moved away,” Dutcher said. “We need to protect ourselves.”
CDOT spokeswoman Rebecca White said the agency is confident in its air quality analysis of the area and that the widening of I-70 will comply to all air quality standards.
“In the final (environmental impact study) there are hundreds of pages devoted to air quality,” White said.
An EPA spokeswoman declined to comment.
Monte Whaley: 720-929-0907, mwhaley@denverpost.com or @montewhaley
