Particulate Air Pollution Mars Sustainable Building

Hines Development, which is beginning construction on 1515 Wynkoop in downtown Denver, really made a mess of things yesterday. Excavation activities kicked up huge clouds of particulate pollution for hours while trucks tracked out dust all over the streets. Anyone walking within a block of this building site likely ended up with gritty teeth and watery, dust-filled eyes. We did.

Yesterday was an extremely windy day and it was unfortunate the excavating company didn't let that stop things. Rocky Mountain Clean Air Action's office is right next to this building site and we actually approached the man overseeing the operations, named Lance. We asked them to stop kicking up so much particulate pollution. His response? They've got to keep going, they can't slow down. He then told us we were trespassing, turned his back and walked away.

Sadly, the future building at 1515 Wynkoop is going to be LEED certfiied as sustainable. This seems like a joke. If Hines Development can't even keep particulate pollution in check, or listen to the concerns of its neighbors for that matter, we don't hold too high of expectations that they'll be qualified or committed to maintaining a sustainable building.