In the News

Given the divisiveness of our politics these days, it may seem hard to believe that protecting our environment hasn't always been such a highly partisan issue.

In fact, just a half a century ago, members of Congress from both political parties — and from all corners of our country — came together to pass a landmark piece of legislation that gave Americans the ability to challenge a major federal project if it threatened to harm our environment.

U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette on Wednesday slammed the chiefs of five e-cigarette companies over their role in enabling an estimated 5 million youths — 28% of all high school students — to vape in the past year.

"E-cigarette manufacturers have been negligent at best or intentional at worst in attracting young people to their options," DeGette said at a hearing of the House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, which she chairs. She added that companies used slick marketing campaigns and flavors to "lure" young people.

U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO) met with a group of Denver high school students for a discussion about vaping. Degette talked with more than a half-dozen students at South High School about their experiences using various vaping products, what drew them to try the product in the first place, and why they believe it's become so popular among students in Colorado and around the country.

It did not take long for U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette to hear in her meeting with high school students that the problem of teen vaping is likely worse than reported.

"Nationally, about 28% of high school students are using e-cigarettes or other vaping products," she said. "That's one in four students."

Aden Ray, a tenth-grade student at South High School, responded that he believed not all students were being truthful in surveys. "From what I've seen in the classroom and out of the classroom, it's almost like three in five students," he countered.

The Homeland Security Department's internal watchdog says rotting food, moldy and dilapidated bathrooms and agency practices at immigration detention facilities may violate detainees' rights.

The Office of Inspector General made unannounced visits to four facilities in California, Louisiana, Colorado and New Jersey between May and November of last year, according to a report published Thursday. The facilities together house about 5,000 detainees.

When Suncor Energy's oil refinery north of Denver — which emits more than 800,000 tons of air pollution a year — broke a 12.8-ton limit for one invisible toxic gas last summer, the event went practically unnoticed.

Neither Suncor nor state health officials alerted nearby residents or county emergency managers about the July test that estimated hydrogen-cyanide emissions at a level of 14.1 tons a year.

WASHINGTON — Colorado representatives are among U.S. House lawmakers pushing for an inquiry into impeaching President Donald Trump as congressional Democrats grow increasingly frustrated by his refusal to comply with their oversight demands.

On Tuesday, after Trump's former White House counsel Don McGahn skipped a House Judiciary Committee hearing — defying a subpoena at the direction of the White House — Reps. Diana DeGette (D-1st) and Joe Neguse (D-2nd) both said it's time to launch an impeachment inquiry.

The chair of a House panel is crying foul over the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) failure to provide an expert to testify on the effects of toxic mercury air pollution.

Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Co.), the leader of the House Energy and Commerce Committee's Oversight and Investigations panel that oversees the EPA, said the denial left the committee with "serious questions."

"The EPA is supposed to be working for the American people," DeGette said in a statement sent Monday night.