Colorado’s Air Quality Control Commission hearings show how small business voices are shut out

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project, Substack

Government regulations differentially harm small businesses AND private businesses

I wrote a newsletter (see the first link below if you want the context) a bit back about testifying in front of the Air Quality Control Commission (AQCC) about how unelected boards are not how our state should run.

I did end up testifying* and I wanted to share the testimony of a gentleman who preceded me because what he said struck me as important.

The gentleman’s name is Jeff Kendall and he is the CEO of Bruin Waste, a private, family-run business on the Western Slope which picks up trash and operates some landfills.

His testimony starts in the recording of the hearing (linked second below) at the 1:03:55 mark.

I won’t transcribe his testimony for you here, I’ll leave it to you to listen to it in its entirety, but I do want to discuss a couple of themes from what he said.

Time:

You will hear Mr. Kendall discuss how his company was denied party status in the hearing. You can approximately think of some rulemaking bodies, like the AQCC, as being like a court with the board members being judges. You and I and anyone else can comment as the public, but a special status is accorded to those that have party status in a rulemaking. They are especially affected by a rule and are given a role analogous to a lawyer who goes before a judge. They can present lengthier briefs, etc.

Mr. Kendall’s company did not get party status because they learned of this rulemaking late and didn’t have time to prepare prior to the deadline.

How many times has this happened with the public and rulemaking? We don’t hear. We don’t have a full time regulatory compliance staff to watch such things and prepare applications for party status. We do not have NGO’s who can prepare talking points for us and help us remember when hearings happen (you’ll hear multiple examples of this in the recording with those that Cultivando, for example, helped).

The same easily applies to small business around this state. Lacking the resources I mention above, they are like you and I, but perhaps even worse off. I have a paycheck job. I am not running a business. I don’t work near as many hours as an owner/operator and my attention is nowhere near as divided as theirs is.

If you hear about how small business suffers under our state’s ever increasing regulatory burden, this is why.

Government-run vs. private-run

In his testimony, you will hear Mr. Kendall ask the AQCC board to make the rules the same for small private as for small municipal landfills. Quoting him: “at a minimum the small private landfills should be treated the same as small public landfills because in many cases, we compete both with municipally-owned landfills and hauling companies.”**

Government-owned entities that perform the same functions as private entities are NOT the same as those private entities. The incentive structure, the way accountability is meted out, are not at all the same.

This becomes a problem when the two might possibly be in economic competition. I think it’s not a stretch to say that, given no legal constraints on the government-owned entity, the private one is almost always at a disadvantage. After all, the government one gets to spend other people’s money.

This problem is exacerbated by having rules that preferentially treat government entities over private. This is, I believe, what Mr. Kendall is concerned about here and his point is a valid one.

In order to not have our government picking winners and losers, rules and laws should at least be equal among private and government players.

What ultimately happens with the AQCC rule is up to the board. I wish our government were more representative, but we have previous administrations to thank for the legislative branch washing its hands of its responsibility and turfing it to unelected boards. We have our current governor to thank for stuffing Colorado’s boards with his political cronies.

The lesson here for you and I is not a new one. Speak up and keep poking those in power in the face with the simple truth that what they’re doing has consequences. Consequences that hurt some more than others. Also keep reminding them that what they’re doing is not in the spirit of a representative government. It may be legal under our current system, but it’s not okay.

* Because the meeting on 8/20 also discussed new rules about methane emissions from landfills, something I’ve written about multiple times before due to its effect on smaller, rural areas, I called an audible and added in some thoughts on this rule to the written outline in the newsletter below.

**See related below for another example.

https://open.substack.com/pub/coloradoaccountabilityproject/p/asce-leans-on-co-fiscal-institute?r=15ij6n&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false

Related:

The City of Ft Collins took over waste hauling and hired a private company to do so. Those that don’t like it and don’t want to use Ft Collins’ hauler have to pay a fee to “opt out” of their service.

Did Ft. Collins also contract with some thick-necked gentlemen from Jersey in setting this system up?

https://www.cbsnews.com/colorado/news/northern-colorado-residents-collections-trash-service-fort-collins/

Colorado Air Quality Control Commission August 20-22 Monthly Meeting – Aug 20, 2025 Pt. 2

READ THE FULL COMMENTARY AT THE COLORADO ACCOUNTABILITY PROJECT

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