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DATE: February 22, 2026
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David Seligman Announces Intent to Create
Environmental Justice & Protection Unit
DENVER, CO - Today, David Seligman, candidate for Attorney General of Colorado, announced his intent to create the Environmental Justice & Protection Unit, a new division to be launched within the Attorney General’s Office dedicated to enforcing Colorado’s environmental laws, advancing environmental justice, and protecting communities disproportionately burdened by pollution and environmental harm.
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Currently, the Attorney General’s environmental work happens primarily through the representation of state agencies like the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and the Colorado Energy & Carbon Management Commission. But the attorney general has the authority, right now, to protect Coloradans independent of those agencies and to put real resources towards doing so.
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“With the Trump Administration backing out on the Biden Administration’s commitment to prioritize environmental justice in enforcement, it’s now more important than ever for Colorado to step up,” said Seligman. “The AG is the lawyer for the people of Colorado, not the Governor of Colorado. As AG, I’ll protect our people and our communities, no matter what the Governor may do.”
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“We have to make polluters pay. And we’re not doing enough. As just one example, Suncor made $2 billion in profits one quarter a few years ago and the Polis Administration hit them with just over $2 million in fines,” said Seligman. “That’s a slap on the wrist. Suncor is far from alone: EPA’s own enforcement database shows hundreds of documented violations in North Denver and Adams County alone. While these corporations profit, working families right here pay the price.”
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“We don’t need to wait for someone else to protect us. The attorney general, coming together with community, can go on offense. And that’s what I’d do.”
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Colorado faces an escalating environmental crisis—from PFAS contamination to harms caused by oil-and-gas drilling and fracking to wildfire-driven watershed degradation and industrial pollution. More than 3,000 oil and gas spills have been reported to state regulators since 2020, more than half of them within 2,000 feet of a home. These harms disproportionately affect rural communities, tribal communities, and neighborhoods historically excluded from environmental decision-making.
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“Environmental harm is not distributed equally in Colorado,” said Seligman. “This unit is designed to change that reality by ensuring that enforcement is both strong and equitable. This new unit will give us the tools, expertise, and mandate to hold polluters accountable and to stand up for communities that have been overlooked for far too long. We’ll also make sure the communities harmed by environmental injustice have a meaningful seat at the table in the effort to hold bad actors accountable.”
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The Environmental Justice & Protection Unit will:
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Enforce Colorado’s environmental laws, including the Colorado Water Quality Control Act, Air Pollution Prevention and Control Act, Hazardous Waste Act, common law protections, and related criminal and civil provisions
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Investigate environmental crimes, including illegal dumping, water contamination, unlawful discharges, falsification of environmental data submitted to regulators, and violations affecting wildlife and public lands
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Advance environmental justice in conjunction with community by prioritizing cases and investigations in disproportionately impacted communities and ensuring compliance with state laws—including the Environmental Justice Act (HB21-1266), the Cumulative Impacts & Environmental Justice Act (HB24-1338), and the Public Protections from Toxic Air Contaminants Act (HB22-1244)—and working closely with community to ensure they have a meaningful seat at the table in decision making
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Provide scientific and technical expertise, including hydrology, toxicology, and environmental forensics, to support complex enforcement actions
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Consult with Tribal Nations and partner with local governments, communities, and community organizations to identify emerging threats and ensure enforcement reflects community needs
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Support community reporting, making it easier for residents to identify and report environmental violations
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Direct penalties from environmental enforcement back to impacted communities, using community-based processes to fund in the communities harmed
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Identify areas for legislative reform and work to advance them, like citizen suit provisions under Colorado law, a moratorium on data center development, and stronger fracking and oil and gas drilling protections
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David Seligman is one of the country’s leading workers’ rights, consumer rights, and antimonopoly lawyers. He is the Executive Director of Towards Justice, a nationally recognized non-profit legal and labor rights organization based in Denver. He fights for regular people in courts across the country, including the U.S. Supreme Court. He helps working Coloradans and small businesses take on powerful corporations and the Trump Administration—and he’s won. He stands up for nurses, rideshare drivers, meatpackers, Amazon workers, veterans, teachers, federal employees, grocery workers, renters buried in junk fees to the biggest landlords in the country, and working families drowning in medical debt to massive hospital systems. He has returned more than 70 million dollars to working people and forced powerful corporations to play by the rules in Colorado and across the country.
Prior to his work at Towards Justice, David was an attorney at the National Consumer Law Center, where he helped consumers buried in debt and forced to give up their rights in the fine print. David lives in east Denver with his wife and three daughters, just a few miles from where he grew up. He is a graduate of Harvard Law School and served as the Supreme Court Chair of the Harvard Law Review before clerking for appellate and trial level federal judges.
For more information about David Seligman’s campaign, visit https://seligmanforag.com
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