Colorado polluters lose their legal excuse for certain emissions

Colorado's air pollution rules just got stricter. Industrial facilities can no longer use special legal arguments to avoid penalties for pollution during startup, shutdown, or malfunction events.

For years, industrial facilities in Colorado could legally excuse pollution that happened when they started up, shut down, or had a malfunction. This meant they often avoided fines for emissions that still harmed air quality. Now, those excuses are gone, forcing facilities to invest in cleaner operations or face penalties.