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Denver hosted one of two hearings for the Trump administration to gather feedback on its plan rollback the nation’s oldest environmental law.

Sole Patchwork of Life project is a touring, community civic engagement art project by artist Eriko Tsogo. In 2020, the Sole Patchwork of Life project will complete its Colorado Tour, making stops at 8 different Denver Council Districts by partnering with host venue organizations that work with marginalized communities. The Sole Patchwork of Life project Colorado Tour is made possible by grant support from City of Denver Office of Equity and Diversity.

An old American proverb recalls, “you can’t understand someone until you’ve walked a mile in their shoes.” In this spirit, we invite you to come create a community art project using the power of storytelling, art, and writing to bridge cultures and bring different communities together to learn from one another.

Sole Patchwork of Life project made its first debut stop at the “Protect Your Voice – Protect NEPA Rally” in collaboration with “Womxn from the Mountain“ organization on Tuesday 2/11/2020 at The Alliance Center in Denver. I got an opportunity to work with the indigenous Native American community for my first project stop, meeting many out-of-state tribal residents and activists from as far as North Carolina to weigh in on proposed changes to the National Environmental Protection Act regulations, better known as NEPA.

Sole Patchwork of Life project @ Protect NEPA Rally picture gallery:

It was an honor to meet Lyla June Johnston, an activist and member of the Diné, or Navajo, nation, who drove six hours from Santa Fe, New Mexico to Denver to speak out against the Trump administration’s proposed rollbacks to NEPA, the nation’s oldest environmental law.

Lyla June Johnston told the White House’s Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) on Tuesday that its proposed revisions could result in projects like northern California’s Shasta Reservoir expansion, which she said would flood dozens of sacred sites on Winnemem Wintu land north of Redding. That project is tied up in litigation.

The White House’s proposed changes would relax the environmental review of such dam expansions, exempting some projects altogether and slashing timelines to complete science-based environmental assessments to two years. The revisions would also strip a requirement that federal agencies consider the cumulative impacts of projects, which the courts have interpreted to mean a project’s greenhouse gas emissions and contribution to climate change.

The changes aim to reduce paperwork and project delays. The CEQ held the hearing in Denver on Tuesday to gather public feedback on the proposed changes. It’s the only hearing outside of Washington, D.C.

The law, signed by Richard Nixon in 1970 following a fire on Cuyahoga River, requires federal agencies to consider environmental impacts when reviewing the construction of new roads, oil and gas drilling permits and pipelines, dams, power plants and other projects that have an environmental impact. It touches on projects in Colorado, too, easing the impacts of the Colorado Department of Transportation’s I-70 expansion in the 1970s, drawing out litigation over Denver Water’s Gross Reservoir expansion in Boulder County, and slowing down a developer’s effort to build a road through public land to access a gated luxury estate in the Vail Valley.

One by one, environmental advocates, outdoor recreators, citizens of Native American tribes, researchers and Colorado residents stepped up to the podium to urge the council to reconsider the changes. Four members of the Polis administration also signed up to speak against the proposal. Gov. Jared Polis issued a statement Tuesday saying it could “increase the danger of disasters including pipeline leaks and explosions.” The Center For American Progress, a liberal nonprofit research group, on Monday released a survey of 1,000 registered voters nationwide and found 55% disapprove of the NEPA changes.

The Washington, D.C. hearing is scheduled for Feb. 25. Public comments are due March 10.

(https://www.coloradoindependent.com/2020/02/11/nepa-hearing-denver/)

Thank you Renee-Millard Chacon, co-founder of the Womxn from the Mountain organization for helping facilitate Sole Patchwork of Life project at the NEPA Rally.